IITGSTOn     ^. 
^V  THSOLOGIGllL/.; 


BV  4525  .S77  1884 
Stratton,  Joseph  B.  1815 

1903. 
Following  Christ 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 


A  MANUAL  FOR  CHURCH-MEMBERS. 


BY   THE 

Rev.  JOSEPH  b/sTRATTON,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Natchez,  Miss. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD   OF  PUBLICATION, 

1334  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


COPYRIGHT,    1884,    BY 

THE    TRUSTEES    OF   THE 

PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD   OF   PUBLICATION. 


ALL   RIGHTS  RESERVED. 


Westcott  &  Thomson, 
Stereotypers  and  Electroiypers,  Philada. 


PREFACE. 


This  volume  is  a  companion  to  one 
entitled  Co7ifessing  Christ:  A  Manual  for 
Inquirers  in  Religion,  published  several 
years  ago,  and,  like  that,  has  been  pre- 
pared mainly  in  reference  to  the  wants  of 
the  author's  own  congregation.  A  pastor 
whose  solicitudes  for  the  welfare  of  his 
tiock  have  run  parallel  with  a  lifetime  may 
naturally  extend  those  solicitudes  beyond 
the  period  in  which  his  voice  is  to  be 
heard,  and  may  find  in  them  a  sufficient 
reason  for  desiring  to  leave  behind  him  a 
legacy  of  affectionate  counsel.  The  hope 
that  what  was  designed  to   be  a    help    to 


4  PREFACE. 

a  particular  community  may  also  serve  as 
a  guide  to  earnest  souls  in  other  commu- 
nities who  are  seeking  to  follow  Christ,  has 
led  to  the  offering  of  this  volume  to  the 
public. 

Natchez  Parsonage,  May  i,  1884. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I. 

PAGB 

Introductory  7 


CHAPTER   II. 
True  Conception  of  Religious  Living 14 

CHAPTER   III. 
Rule  of  Religious   Living 39 

CHAPTER   IV. 
Observance  of  Public  Worship 75 

CHAPTER  V. 
Private   Prayer 93 

CHAPTER    VI. 
The  Cultivation  of  Personal  Religion 115 

CHAPTER   VII. 

Religion  in  the  Church 135 

5 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

PAGE 

Religion  in  Secular  Life 156 

CHAPTER   IX. 
Religion  in  the  Family 187 

CHAPTER   X. 
Religion  Always  and  Everywhere 213 

CHAPTER   XL 
Conclusion 231 


FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 


CHAPTER   I. 

INTRODUCTOR  Y 


AS  the  Scriptures  employ  the  phrase 
L  "  confessing  Christ "  to  describe  the 
assuming  of  a  rehgious  character  and  Hfe, 
they  very  naturally  employ  the  correspond- 
ing phrase  "  following  Christ "  to  describe 
ihe  exhibition  of  such  a  character  and  the 
prosecution  of  such  a  life.  In  adopting  re- 
ligion under  the  direction  of  the  Bible,  a 
man  attaches  himself  to  Christ;  in  practicing 
religion  under  the  same  direction,  he  follows 
Christ.  We  may  be  thankful  that  a  proce- 
dure so  critical  in  its  nature,  and  so  momen- 
tous in  its  bearings  and  issues  as  this  latter 
one  must  needs  be,  has  been  set  before  us 
by  God  in  terms  so  simple  and  intelligible. 
Jesus     constructed    no    formal     system    of 


8  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

doctrine  and  enacted  no  formal  code  of 
moral  law,  but  he  comprehended  both  ni 
the  injunction  *'  Follow  me."  Light  suf- 
ficient for  the  world  is  concentrated  in 
this  single  luminous  point. 

Every  honest  person,  in  embracing  a 
religious  character  and  life,  will  desire 
above  all  things  to  know  what  is  precise- 
ly included  in  the  great  obligation  he  has 
assumed.  He  will  desire  this  for  two 
reasons:  first,  that  he  may  be  sure  that 
nothing  properly  belonging  to  its  contents 
has  been  overlooked  ;  and  second,  that  h  j 
may  be  sure,  at  the  same  time,  that  nothin^r 
apart  from  or  beyond  those  contents  has 
been  imposed  upon  him.  The  position 
of  one  who  by  proper  acknowledgments 
before  the  authorities  of  the  church,  and 
by  a  participation  in  the  covenanting  ordi- 
nances of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper, 
has  just  taken  the  step  which  attests  the 
faith  and  avows  the  purpose  of  a  Christian, 
must  be  an  unspeakably  solemn  one  to  the 
party  concerned;  and  one  which  every 
thoughtful  observer  will  look  upon  with 
the  profoundest  interest  and  the  tenderest 


IN  TR  OD  UC rOR  Y.  9 

solicitude.  If  it  means  what  it  ought  to 
mean,  it  presents  us  with  that  spectacle  of 
a  sinner  repenting  and  turning  from  his 
evil  ways  over  which  the  angels  of  God 
rejoice  in  heaven.  It  is  the  return  to  the 
Father's  house  of  a  wandering  prodigal 
to  whom  every  right-minded  "  elder  son  " 
will  be  ready  to  extend  a  loving  welcome. 
It  is  the  enlistment  of  a  new  recruit  in  the 
army  of  Christ — an  act  which  surely  should 
appeal  with  a  pathetic  power  to  the  heart 
of  every  veteran  in  that  army. 

Young  soldier,  you  have  done  a  brave 
deed — a  deed  which  many  a  man  who  has 
courage  enough  to  face  death  on  the  battle- 
field does  not  dare  to  do.  You  have  dared 
to  confess  that  your  life  heretofore  has  been 
all  wrong,  and  to  determine  that  in  future 
it  shall  by  God's  help  be  made  right.  You 
have  dared  to  change  masters,  to  change 
principles,  to  change  habits.  You  have 
rescued  yourself  from  the  thraldom  of  sin  ; 
you  have  broken  loose  from  the  appetites 
with  which  it  had  enslaved  you  and  the 
associations  with  which  it  had  entangled 
you.     You  have  renounced  all  other  lords 


10  FOLLOWING   CHJUST. 

which  have  had  dominion  over  you  to  bow 
the  knee  to  Jesus. 

The  struggle  by  which  you  have  done 
all  this  may  have  been  great ;  the  severity 
of  it  reveals  itself  in  the  sobriety  of  your 
manner  and  the  seriousness  of  your  coun- 
tenance. A  deeper  shade  still  gathers 
over  your  spirit  as  you  think  of  the 
struggles  to  come — as  you  contemplate 
the  responsibilities  which  are  involved  in 
the  steps  which  yet  lie  before  you.  The 
apprehension  of  failure  or  of  defection  in 
the  work  you  have  undertaken  fills  you 
with  alarm.  Shall  the  peace,  the  hope,  the 
joy,  of  a  new  life  which  are  now  stirring 
in  your  soul  be  stifled  and  lost  ?  Shall  the 
Lord  ever  have  occasion  to  look  upon  you 
as  he  did  upon  Peter,  and  reproach  you  for 
your  unfaithfulness  and  treachery  ?  Shall 
the  friends  in  Christ  to  whom  you  have 
now  joined  yourself  be  constrained  in 
time  to  come  to  mourn  over  your  back- 
sliding ?  And  shall  the  unbelieving  crowd 
whom  you  have  professedly  abandoned 
have  cause  to  rejoice  over  your    halting? 

To  all  such  questions  you  now  make  the 


INTR  OD  UC  TOR  Y.  1 1 

almost  passionate  reply,  "  God  forbid !" 
The  very  gravity  of  your  demeanor,  the 
intensity  of  desire  and  purpose  which  kin- 
dles the  very  look  of  your  eye,  seem  to 
make  a  mute  appeal  to  others  more  ad- 
vanced in  Christian  life  to  instruct  your 
ignorance  and  brace  up  your  feebleness — 
to  tell  you,  in  a  word,  what  you  must  be 
and  what  you  must  do  in  order  to  realize 
the  character  you  have  assumed  and  the 
life  you  have  undertaken  to  enact. 

In  the  spirit  of  sympathy  with  this  mute 
appeal  (which  in  many  instances  has  been 
addressed  to  the  writer  as  a  spoken  one) 
the  following  pages  have  been  prepared. 
In  the  preparation  of  them  the  keynote 
with  which  everything  will  be  kept  in  har- 
mony is  the  great  comprehensive  command, 
the  first  (Matt.  iv.  19)  and  the  last  (John 
xxi.  22)  addressed  by  Christ  to  his  dis- 
ciples, "Follow  me."  It  is  evidently  enough 
for  the  disciple  that  he  be  "  as  his  Master," 
and  for  the  servant  that  he  be  "as  his  Lord" 
(Matt.  X.  25).  The  religion  of  Christianity 
requires  just  this  likeness  to  Christ — all 
this,  and  nothing  more  than  this. 


12  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

The  exposition  of  this  cardinal  law 
of  the  Christian  life,  it  is  hoped,  will  fur- 
nish a  seasonable  aid  to  that  favored  class 
of  persons  who  through  God's  blessing 
upon  faithful  parental  training  have  by 
imperceptible  steps  been  brought  into 
his  kingdom.  Divine  grace,  in  the  nature 
of  it,  is  without  limitation  as  to  the  time 
and  manner  of  its  operation.  It  is  the 
privilege  of  all  who  are  themselves  in 
covenant  with  God  to  beheve  that  their 
offspring  may  be  included  with  them  in 
the  provisions  of  the  covenant.  They  often 
give  evidence  that  they  are.  In  such  cases 
the  birth  of  the  Spirit  has  supervened  upon 
the  birth  of  the  flesh  at  so  early  a  day, 
and  by  such  insensible  processes,  that  the 
subject  has  no  consciousness  of  the  re- 
generating change.  But  the  obligations 
of  the  Christian  life  are  the  same  in  the 
case  of  those  who  are  thus  called  from 
the  womb  as  in  that  of  those  who  are 
converted  in  later  life.  The  import  of 
these  obligations  will  present  itself  to  the 
intelligence  of  these  persons,  as  well  as 
of  others,  when  the  time  arrives  for  them 


INTK OD UCTOR  Y.  1 3 

to  avow  their  faith  in  Christ  and  their 
consecration  to  God  by  a  formal  union 
with  the  Church.  To  them,  as  well  as 
to  others  who  have  been  recalled  from 
the  open  paths  of  unbelief  and  sin,  Jesus 
says,  "  Follow  me."  The  counsels  which 
befit  the  latter  class  may  be  as  diligently 
studied  and  as  carefully  observed  by  them. 
The  Spirit  of  Christ  in  die  soul  of  a  be- 
liever will  manifest  its  presence  by  the 
same  phenomena  in  the  case  of  a  Samuel 
sanctified  from  his  birth  as  in  that  of  a  Saul 
arrested  by  sovereign  grace  in  a  career  of 
flagrant  opposition  to  Christ. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE    TRUE    CONCEPTION  OF  RELIGIOUS 
LIVING. 

THE  sincere  professor  of  the  religion 
of  Christ  will  mean  something  very 
definite  by  the  profession  which  he  has 
made.  If  in  all  enterprises  it  is  requisite 
that  a  man  should  have  a  clear  idea  of 
what  he  is  doing,  it  is  especially  requisite 
in  the  practice  of  religion,  confessedly  the 
most  important  enterprise  in  which  man 
can  eno-aee.  No  one  has  ever  risen  to 
the  grandeur  of  a  Christian  life  who  has 
not  felt  the  necessity  of  intelligently  and 
deliberately  weighing  and  measuring  the 
import  of  such  a  life. 

"  Which  of  you  "  asks  the  Saviour  (Luke 
xiv.  28),  "intending  to  build  a  tower,  sit- 
teth  not  down  first  and  counteth  the  cost, 
whether  he  have  sufficient  to  finish  it  ? 
Lest  haply,  after  he  hath  laid  the  founda- 

14 


TRUE   RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  1$ 

tion  and  is  not  able  to  finish  it,  all  that 
behold  it  begin  to  mock  him,  saying,  This 
man  beean  to  build,  and  was  not  able  to 
finish.  Or  what  king,  going  to  make  war 
with  another  king,  sitteth  not  down  first  and 
consulteth  whether  he  be  able  with  ten 
thousand  to  meet  him  that  cometh  against 
him  with  twenty  thousand?"  With  the 
breadth  and  the  closeness  of  circumspec- 
tion indicated  by  these  operations  the 
young  Christian  ought  to  scrutinize  the 
nature,  the  scope  and  the  aim  of  the 
movement  in  which  he  is  embarking. 

Who  would  start  upon  a  journey  with- 
out having  a  destination  in  view,  or  with- 
out endeavoring  to  foresee  and  provide 
for  all  the  conditions  necessary  for  a  sure 
and  safe  transit  to  the  desired  point,  and 
for  the  attainment  of  the  objects  proposed 
in  the  purpose  to  visit  it? 

A  recent  traveler,  in  a  work  describing 
a  tour  around  the  world,  tells  us  that  "  he 
had  planned  his  entire  excursion  several 
months  before  settino;  out,  with  the  times 
of  arrival  and  departure  for  each  country 
that  he  expected  to  visit;  and  until  reach- 


1 6  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

ing  Europe,  where  his  plans  were  inten- 
tionally left  uncertain,  he  was  scarcely  a 
day  out  of  time  at  any  stage  of  the  jour- 
ney." Of  course  such  a  journey  was 
wisely  and  successfully  made ;  the  traveler 
accomplished  just  what  he  intended  to  do. 
The  traveler  upon  the  Christian  life  can 
hope  for  a  satisfactory  issue  to  his  under- 
taking only  by  exercising  the  same  fore- 
thought. Standing  within  the  threshold 
of  the  Church,  with  a  future  consecrated 
to  Christ  before  him,  the  earnest  inquiry 
of  his  soul  ought  to  be,  and  will  be  if  he 
is  a  true  man,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have 
me  to  do  ?" 

That  there  are  deliberate  dissemblers 
and  hypocrites  in  the  Church  is  undoubted- 
ly true,  but  such  cases  are  extremely  rare. 
Ordinarily,  those  who  formally  make  a  pro- 
fession of  religion  are  sincere.  It  may 
happen  that  the  act  has  been  performed 
under  an  emotional  excitement,  and  that 
after  the  transient  inspiration  has  subsided 
the  individual  has  relapsed  into  his  old 
form  of  life,  but  still  he  was  sincere  when 
the  profession  was  made.    He  was  deceived 


TRUE    RELIGIOUS   LIVING.  1 7 

in  persuading  himself  that  he  was  a  subject 
of  regenerating  grace,  but  he  was  honest 
in  entertaining  the  persuasion.  Simon 
Magus  even  (Acts  viii.  13)  gives  evidence 
of  beino-  honest  when  he  professed  faith 
and  received  baptism  as  a  disciple  of  Jesus, 
though  he  afterward  showed  that  his  "heart 
was  not  rio^ht  in  the  sig^ht  of  God." 

If  the  genuine  principle  of  spiritual  life 
is  in  the  newly-enlisted  church-member,  he 
will  be  honest  not  only  in  the  persuasion 
that  he  is  a  Christian,  but  in  the  sense  of 
desiring  to  know  and  meaning  to  be  and 
to  do  all  that  is  implied  in  the  name  and 
character  of  a  Christian.  Whither  this 
journey  upoii  zvhich  he  has  e7itered  is  to 
lead  him,  and  what  is  involved  in  the  prose- 
c2ition  of  it,  are  the  anxious  and  absorbing 
inquiries  which  his  mind  will  be  constrained 
to  revolve.  On  these  inquiries  a  few  re- 
flections which  I  shall  proceed  to  offer 
may  throw  light. 

I. 
It  is   evident  that  the   idea  of  religious 
living,  as  given   in  the  phrase  "  Following 


t8  following    CHRIST. 

Christ,"  includes  vastly  more  than  a  mere 
external  religiousness  or  the  putting  on  of 
a  religious  manner  and  the  practicing  of  a 
certain  set  of  religious  acts  and  rites, 

A  relioion  of  the  look,  the  tone,  the 
dress,  the  outward  ceremonial,  has  received 
the  distinctive  name  of  "  sanctimonious- 
ness " — an  opprobrious  term  by  which 
the  world  has  denounced  a  religion  of 
form  and  appearance  as  a  spurious  re- 
ligion. Real  religion  Is  a  property  of 
the  man  himself.  It  is  not  made  by  the 
drapery  he  wears,  or  the  dialect  he  uses, 
or  the  society  to  which  he  attaches  him- 
self. The  follower  of  Christ  will  change 
his  ways  because  he  is  3l  Christian,  not  in 
order  to  become  a  Christian. 

Even  under  the  Old  Dispensation,  where 
external  signs  of  membership  in  the  Church 
were  so  largely  enjoined,  the  principle  was 
distinctly  announced  (i  Sam.  xvi.  7)  :  "The 
Lord  seeth  not  as  man  seeth ;  for  man 
looketh  on  the  outward  appearance,  but 
the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart."  No  right- 
minded  professor  of  religion  will  delude 
himself  with  the  idea  that  his  vow  of  dis- 


TRUE  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  1 9 

cipleship  is  fulfilled  by  the  putting  on  of  a 
religious  demeanor  or  the  doing  merely 
the  things  which  religious  people  ordinarily 
do.  He  will  feel  that  he  meant  vastly 
more  than  pledging  himself  to  appear  in 
the  house  of  God  on  the  Sabbath,  to 
repeat  two  or  three  prayers  a  day,  to  come 
to  the  communion-table  at  the  stated  times, 
to  subscribe  for  a  missionary  paper,  to 
drop  his  contribution  into  the  collection- 
box  and  to  vote  at  a  church-meeting,  when 
he  pledged  himself  to  follow  Christ.  He 
will  know  that  there  is  no  "  keeping  of 
the  words"  of  Christ  without  "lovine" 
Christ  (John  xiv.  23),  and  love  puts  the 
consecration  of  the  heart  at  the  root  of 
acts  of  devotion. 

Religion,  it  is  true,  like  every  other  strong 
spiritual  force  introduced  into  a  man,  may 
be  expected  to  impress  itself  more  or  less 
upon  his  manner  and  conduct.  In  some 
instances  it  may  effect  a  total  transforma- 
tion of  character,  as  in  the  case  of  St.  Paul, 
chancrinor  the  lion  into  the  lamb.  It  cer- 
tainly  will  make  the  man  who  has  been 
neglectful    of    religious    customs    and    ob- 


20  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

servances  attentive  to  them ;  it  will  mani- 
fest its  presence  in  the  soul  by  this  outward 
sign.  But  a  sign  is  not  identical  with  the 
thing  it  represents;  the  fruit  of  a  tree  is 
not  the  tree  nor  the  life  of  the  tree. 

There  may  be  the  sign  of  religion  where 
there  is  no  religion.  The  Jews  in  Isaiah's 
time  (Isa.  i.)  were  scrupulous  in  keeping 
their  festivals,  bringing  their  oblations  and 
offering  up  their  prayers,  and  yet  in  the 
sieht  of  God  there  was  "  no  soundness  in 
them."  The  Pharisees  in  our  Saviour's 
time  made  themselves  conspicuous  by  their 
badges  of  piety,  but  were  likened  by  him 
to  "  whited  sepulchres."  The  mere  calling 
Christ  "  Lord,  Lord,"  or  the  acknowledging 
him  by  any  other  symbolical  act,  does  not 
make  a  man  a  member  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  (Matt.  vii.  21.)  The  honest  soldier 
of  Christ,  in  espousing  a  religious  life,  will 
not  mistake  the  wearing  of  a  church  uni- 
form or  the  practicing  of  a  church  drill 
for  such  a  life.  It  is  not  the  new  garb, 
but  the  new  heart — not  the  form  of  godli- 
ness, but  the  spirit  of  it — which  is  required 
for  the  following  of  Jesus. 


TRUE   RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  21 

II. 

Nor  is  the  act  of  entering  into  church- 
membership  to  be  regarded  as  a  mere 
induction  into  a  corporation  and  a  sub- 
scription  to  the  laws  of  that  corporation. 

Men  have  found  it  convenient  or  neces- 
sary in  the  prosecution  of  a  variety  of 
objects  to  unite  themselves  under  a  social 
compact  or  constitution  ;  they  thus  form  a 
league  or  confederation  for  a  special  pur- 
pose. There  must  be,  of  course,  in  every 
such  league  or  confederation,  a  set  of  laws 
bearing  upon  the  object  proposed  by  it,  by 
which  every  person  entering  it  is  bound.  By 
this  his  duty  as  a  member  of  it  is  limited  and 
defined.  A  temperance  society,  for  instance, 
adopts  its  rules  with  a  view  to  the  promotion 
of  temperance,  and  he  who  joins  it  engages 
to  observe  these  rules.  So  lone  as  this  is 
done  all  is  done  that  is  required  of  him. 
To  put  the  church  in  the  same  category 
with  a  temperance  society,  and  to  construe 
the  phrase  ''joining  the  church"  as  signify- 
ing the  same  kind  of  act  as  the  joining  of 
such  a  society,  is  a  fundamental  mistake. 
In   becoming  a  church-member  a   man    is, 


22  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

indeed,  entering  a  social  body  and  placing 
himself,  to  a  certain  extent,  under  the 
obligations  involved  in  the  constitution  of 
that  body.  The  church  is  the  house  of 
God,  and,  like  every  other  house,  it  must 
have  its  peculiar  economy — that  is,  its 
house-law.  This  house-law,  which  sets  cer- 
tain objects  before  the  church  and  pre- 
scribes certain  rules  and  methods  for  the 
attainment  of  them,  requires  organization 
and  concerted  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
members.  The  worship  of  God,  for  in- 
stance, is  to  be  maintained  in  the  world, 
and  this  creates  a  necessity  for  a  num- 
ber of  practical  arrangements  involving 
an  exercise  of  deliberation  and  an  ex- 
penditure of  money  in  which  every  mem- 
ber must  share.  It  is  his  duty  in  his 
measure  to  do  whatever  the  church  as  a 
body  is  required  to  do,  and  a  duty  which 
he  owes  to  the  body ;  so  that  his  fellow- 
members  are  wronged  whenever  he  fails 
to  do  it. 

But  no  intelligent  disciple  of  Christ 
would  for  a  moment  substitute  compliance 
with  this  house-law  of  the  church  for  obe- 


TRUE   RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  23 

dience  to  the  law  of  God,  or  feel  that  in 
discharging  his  duty  to  the  corporation  of 
which  he  was  a  member  he  had  acquitted 
himself  of  his  obligations  as  a  follower  of 
Christ.  His  social  life  as  a  church-member 
is  only  one  department — and  a  lower  one 
— of  that  religious  life  which  he  is  bound 
to  lead  as  a  Christian  ;  and  if  his  aim  is 
only  to  do  the  will  of  his  brethren,  he  has 
failed  to  recognize  the  hrst  principle  of 
religious  living,  which  is  to  do  the  will  of 
his  Father  in  heaven.  To  stand  well  and 
to  have  a  fair  report  among  those  with 
whom  he  has  associated  himself  in  church- 
fellowship  is  an  end  which  every  professor 
of  religion  ought  to  keep  in  view  ;  but  if  his 
purpose  contemplates  no  higher  end  than 
this,  it  will  certainly  never  realize  itself  in 
making  him  a  follower  of  Christ. 

III. 
As  mere  conformity  to  church-regula- 
tions is  not  the  rule  of  religious  living, 
neither  is  union  with  the  church  to  be 
made  the  ground  upon  which  the  Christian 
rests  his  expectation  of  spiritual  blessings. 


24  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

The  church  cannot  do  the  work  of 
Christ;  it  cannot  regenerate  nor  sanctify 
nor  save.  It  is  not  a  divinely-instituted 
insurance-company,  pledging  itself,  in  con- 
sideration of  their  compliance  with  certain 
terms  of  membership,  to  protect  its  sub- 
scribers from  all  spiritual  loss  and  damage. 
Under  some  theories,  conspicuously  the 
Romish,  this  idea  is  unquestionably  the 
cardinal  one.  The  Church  is  represented  as 
a  mother,  assuming  the  custody  and  guaran- 
teeing the  salvation  of  all  who  put  them- 
selves under  her  charge.  It  is  held  forth 
as  an  asylum  within  whose  sacred  enclosure 
the  inmate  will  be  shielded  from  the  pur- 
suit of  law  and  furnished  with  all  the  aids 
of  grace.  Let  the  church-member,  it  is 
said,  implicitly  accept  the  teachings  of  the 
Church  and  regularly  comply  with  its  or- 
dinances, and  the  Church  pledges  to  him 
an  assured  interest  in  all  the  privileges  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

This  is  simply  a  modification  of  the  old 
Jewish  doctrine  which  identified  religion 
with  relationship  to  Abraham — a  doctrine 
which  John  the  Baptist  denounced  when  he 


TRUE   RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  2$ 

cried  (Matt.  iii.  9),  "Think  not  to  say 
within  yourselves,  We  have  Abraham  to 
our  father,  for  I  say  unto  you  that  God  is 
able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up  children 
unto  Abraham;"  and  which  the  Saviour 
condemned  when  he  said  (Matt.  viii.  11), 
"  Many  shall  come  from  the  east  and  the 
west,  and  sit  down  with  Abraham  and 
Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven; 
but  the  children  of  the  kingdom  shall  be 
cast  out  into  outer  darkness."  It  is  the 
prerogative  of  Christ  personally  to  forgive 
sin,  to  reconcile  the  soul  to  God  and  to 
bestow  eternal  life  ;  and  he  has  never 
delegated  this  prerogative  to  his  Church, 
and  no  policy  or  certificate  that  church 
authorities  can  issue  is  of  any  worth  un- 
less Christ  has  first  pronounced  the  believ- 
er forgiven  and  justified.  The  man  who 
puts  dependence  upon  a  Church  in  the 
place  of  following  Christ  is  indulging  a 
fatal  delusion. 

IV. 
In  distinction  from  these  low  and  super- 
ficial views    of  a    religious    life    the    Bible 


26  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

places  the  foundation  and  source  of  it  in 
a  new  nature.  It  represents  the  Christian, 
not  as  an  old  creature  rehabilitated  and 
newly  shaped  and  labeled,  but  as  a  new 
creature  specifically,  one  quickened  by  a 
new  principle  and  reanimated  and  ener- 
gized by  a  new  spirit  (2  Cor.  v.  17.  Rom. 
viii.  9). 

The  term  "  religious  living "  simply 
means  the  religious  man  living.  If  the 
church-member  in  entering  upon  a  course 
of  religious  living  has  made  a  change  in 
his  mode  of  living,  it  is  because  he  has 
himself  undergone  a  change  of  nature,  or 
what  our  Lord  calls  (John  iii.  3)  a  new 
birth.  The  change  in  the  outward  and 
demonstrative  is  merely  the  sequel  of  a 
change  which  has  occurred  within  him. 
By  this  change  the  carnal  mind  by  which 
he  was  previously  governed  has  given 
place,  through  faith  in  Christ,  to  a  spiritual 
mind ;  love  to  God  has  been  elevated 
above  love  to  the  creature,  and  all  the 
minor  affections  are  embraced  and  con- 
trolled by  this  predominant  one.  The  law 
by    which    the    believer's    living    is     now 


TRUE   RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  2/ 

directed  and  ordered  requires  him  to  be 
religious  and  forbids  him  to  be  anything 
else.  "  How  shall  we  that  are  dead  to  sin," 
asks  St.  Paul  (Rom.  vi.  2),  "  live  any 
longer  therein?"  How  can  the  man  in 
whose  nature  love  to  God  has  been  im- 
planted as  the  reigning  principle  be  any- 
thing but  a  religious  man  in  his  living? 
As  w^ell  might  we  ask,  "  How  can  the  star 
be  a  star  without  shining?"  or,  "How  can 
a  fruit  tree  be  a  fruit  tree  without  bearing 
fruit?" 

Religious  living  is  expressed  not  so 
much  by  the  phrase  "  I  do "  as  by  the 
phrase  "  I  am ;"  consequently,  in  making 
a  profession  of  religion  the  man  is  making 
a  promise,  not  to  do  certain  specified 
things,  but  to  be  in  all  things  a  certain 
definite  character.  He  purposes  and  he 
pledges  himself  to  be  at  all  times  and  in 
all  circumstances  a  Christian  man.  In 
private  as  well  as  in  public,  in  secular 
transactions  as  well  as  sacred  ones,  on 
weekdays  as  well  as  on  the  Sabbath, 
outside  of  the  church  as  well  as  in  it,  he 
recognizes  the  obligation  as  resting  upon 


28  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

him  to  exhibit  the  nature  of  one  born  of 
God. 

V. 

A  Christian  hfe,  conducted  under  the 
promptings  of  this  new  nature,  will  express 
itself  actively  in  a  species  of  working  cor- 
responding to  this  nature. 

Every  honest  professor  of  religion  will 
feel  that  he  has  bound  himself  by  a  solemn 
indenture  to  be  a  worker  for  God.  It  is 
only  under  this  form  that  his  living  can 
claim  to  be  a  following  of  Christ,  for 
Christ  affirms  of  himself  (John  vi.  38),  "I 
came  down  from  heaven,  not  to  do  mine 
own  will,  but  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me." 
Put  the  term  "  business  "  here  in  this  pas- 
sage in  the  place  of  the  term  ''  will,"  as  we 
may  properly  do,  and  it  will  teach  that  in 
the  believer's  scheme  of  life  God's  business 
must  take  precedence  of  his  own. 

The  privileges  of  the  gospel  can  never 
be  divorced  from  the  duties  of  the  gospel. 
The  faith  that  receives  Christ  as  a  Saviour 
will  receive  him  also  as  a  Master.  "  Freely 
ye  have  received,"  as  a  statement  of  gratu- 
itous   blessings     conferred,     must    always 


TRUE    RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  2g 

Stand  conjoined  in  the  policy  of  the  Chris- 
tian with  the  injunction  "  Freely  give." 
We  are  engrafted  into  Christ  by  the  divine 
Husbandman  not  merely  that  we  may  live, 
but  that  we  may  give  evidence  of  our  liv- 
ing by  our  acting  or  working.  "  Herein 
is  my  Father  glorified,"  says  the  Lord 
(John  XV.  8),  "that  ye  bear  much  fruit;  so 
shall  ye  be  my  disciples." 

The  "  high  calling  "  which  every  follower 
of  Jesus  has  received  binds  him  to  make 
the  glory  of  God  the  chief  end  of  his  liv- 
ing. He  is  the  servant  entrusted  with 
special  talents  by  his  Lord,  and  the  com- 
mand "Occupy" — trade  with  these — "till 
I  come  "  accompanies  the  trust.  "Always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord "  is 
a  definition  of,  as  well  as  a  precept  to,  the 
Christian.  He  is  to  "  work  out  his  own  sal- 
vation," or  to  prove  himself  to  be  in  a  state 
of  salvation  by  his  working.  He  is  to  "  min- 
ister," as  his  Master  did,  to  the  eood  of 
others.  He  is  to  show  his  love  to  God  by 
his  love  to  his  brethren.  He  is  to  pray  for 
the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  to 
show  that  his  praying  is  sincere  by  working 


30  FOLLOWING    CHKLST. 

for  the  coming  of  that  kingdom.  He  is  to 
make  his  Hght  so  positively  and  conspicu- 
ously shine  that  all  in  the  house  may  see  it. 
He  is  to  travel  with  hourly  diligence  and  with 
lifelong  effort  to  the  promised  land,  not  be 
borne  there  in  his  luxurious  car  without  a 
care  or  a  movement  of  his  own. 

The  relation  of  all  other  avocations  to  the 
supreme  one  of  working  for  Christ  is  well 
stated  by  an  eminent  living  minister  in  the 
pithy  questions,  'Ts  religion  your  business, 
or  business  your  religion  ?  Does  your  candle 
shine  upon  the  bushel,  or  does  the  bushel  hide 
your  candle  ?"  When  Christ  gives  the  com- 
mand ''  Follow  me,"  he  imposes  an  obliga- 
tion which  involves  in  it  the  forsaking  of  all 
for  his  sake.  Henceforth  the  business  of 
God  outranks  and  holds  in  subordination 
to  itself  all  other  exercises  of  life  in  the 
believer. 

VI. 

Religious  livino^  furthermore,  is  to  be 
conceived  of  as  the  carrying  out  of  the 
engagements  of  a  covenant  between  the 
soul  and  God. 

Whatever  may  be  the  form  of  the  pro- 


TRUE    RELIGIOUS   UVIXG.  3 1 

cess,  no  man  becomes  a  Christian  man  with- 
out making  a  covenant  with  God.  It  may  be 
expressed  in  literal  terms.  Dr.  Doddridge 
has  inserted  such  a  covenant  in  his  Rise 
and  Progress  of  Religion  i7i  the  Said  for 
the  use  of  persons  adopting  a  religious 
life.  If  this  is  not  done  literally,  it  is  done 
virtually,  by  every  one  who  embraces  such 
a  life. 

The  form  of  this  covenant  in  Old-Testa- 
ment times  is  stated  by  Isaiah  (xxiii.  13)  : 
"  O  Lord  our  God,  other  lords  beside  thee 
have  had  dominion  over  us  ;  but  by  thee 
only  will  we  make  mention  of  thy  name." 
An  example  of  it  is  given  in  Josh.  xxiv.  22— 
26.  After  drawing  from  the  people  a  pro- 
fession of  their  allegiance  to  God.  Joshua 
seals,  as  it  were,  the  covenant  into  which 
they  had  entered  by  setting  up  a  great 
stone  under  an  oak  that  was  near  the 
sanctuary  of  the  Lord  and  saying  to  the 
people,  ''  Behold,  this  stone  shall  be  a 
witness  unto  us,  for  it  hath  heard  all  the 
words  of  the  Lord  which  he  spake  unto 
us ;  it  shall  be,  therefore,  a  witness  unto 
you,  lest  ye  deny  your  God." 


32  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

In  the  New  Testament  this  covenant  is 
described  or  suo^orested  in  various  forms, 
as  in  these  passages :  '*  Ye  also  are  become 
dead  to  the  law  by  the  body  of  Christ,  that 
ye  should  be  married  to  another,  even  to 
him  who  is  raised  from  the  dead,  that  we 
should  bring  forth  fruit  unto  God"  (Rom. 
vii.  4)  ;  "  Ye  who  were  without  Christ, 
being  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel  and  strangers  from  the  covenant 
of  promise,  having  no  hope  and  without 
God  in  the  world,  now,  in  Christ  Jesus, 
are  made  nigh  by  the  blood  of  Christ" 
(Eph.  ii.  12,  13);  and  "  I  have  espoused  you 
to  one  husband,  that  I  may  present  you  as 
a  chaste  virgin  to  Christ"  (2  Cor.  xi.  2). 

Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  are 
essentially  covenanting  transactions.  They 
are  modes  by  which  faith  in  Christ  as  the 
Prophet,  the  Priest  and  the  King  of  the 
people  of  God  is  professed  by  the  party 
engaging  in  them.  If  they  mean  anything, 
they  mean  that  that  party  is  by  these 
solemn  rites  binding  himself  to  make 
Christ  in  fact  his  Prophet,  his  Priest  and 
his    King.     And    these    ordinances,    being 


TRUE   RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  33 

direct  and  positive  institutions  of  God, 
have  in  them  all  the  significance  of  a 
pledge  or  a  seal  on  God's  part  that  the 
blessings  secured  by  the  threefold  work 
of  Christ  shall  be  conferred  upon  him. 

All  covenanting  is  a  serious  procedure, 
but  in  covenanting  with  God  the  proced- 
ure reaches  a  climax  in  both  force  and  ex- 
tent. The  man's  true  self  and  his  whole 
self  must  be  conveyed  to  God  in  it ;  all 
other  interests  and  obligations  must  be 
covered  by  it.  All  the  countless  circles 
through  which  life  revolves — personal,  do- 
mestic, political — must  be  included  in  and 
bounded  by  that  supreme  one  which  passes 
between  the  soul  and  God. 

VII. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  last  fact. 
Christian  living  is  to  be  conceived  of  as 
the  carrying  out  of  a  vow  of  consecration 
to   God. 

If  it  be  a  following  of  Christ,  it  must 
have  a  constant  reference  to  the  redemp- 
tion of  Christ  as  the  source  of  both  its 
motive  and  its  rule.     Now,  an  act,  a  life, 


34  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

of  self-devotement  on  his  part  is  clearly 
the  only  proportionate  acknowledgment 
which  the  believer  can  make  to  that  un- 
speakable demonstration  of  his  love  to 
him  which  God  has  made  in  the  gospel. 
It  is  the  response  on  man's  side — and  the 
only  one  possible — which  corresponds  with 
the  call  addressed  to  him  on  God's  side. 
As  every  Christian  has  been  bought  with 
a  price,  even  "  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ"  (i  Pet.  i.  19),  he  is  no  longer  his 
own,  but  belongs  to  Him  who  died  for  him 
and  rose  again.  A  child  of  wrath  by 
nature,  even  as  others,  he  has  become 
in  Christ  a  child  of  God.  As  such  he 
must  yield  himself  in  all  respects  to  the 
demands  of  this  sacred  relationship.  As 
such  he  must  freely  assent  to  the  absolute 
claim  which  God  has  to  the  service  of  his 
life.  He  must  present  himself,  soul,  body 
and  spirit,  as  a  living  sacrifice  to  him.  He 
must  regard  himself  as  charo^ed  with  a 
"  holy  priesthood,"  and  as  such  separated 
to  the  work  of  showing  forth  the  praises 
of  Him  who  has  called  him  unto  his  king- 
dom and  glory. 


TRUE  RELIGIOUS  LIVING,  35 

When  Christ  prayed  for  the  disciples 
(John  xvii.  17)  that  they  might  be  "sanc- 
tified" through  the  truth,  he  prayed  that 
they  might  be  so  consecrated  to  a  priestly 
life.  As  for  their  sakes  he  had  so  sancti- 
fied himself,  or  devoted  himself  to  the 
doing  of  the  Father's  will,  so  he  invoked 
upon  them  the  grace  which  should  enable 
them,  as  his  followers,  to  realize  the  same 
consecrated  spirit. 

The  apostles  continually  press  the  same 
idea  upon  their  readers  as  the  cardinal 
principle  of  Christian  piety,  as  in  those 
impassioned  appeals  of  St.  Paul  to  the 
Corinthians  (2  Cor.  vi.  14-18)  :  "What  fel- 
lowship hath  righteousness  with  unright- 
eousness ?  And  what  communion  hath 
light  with  darkness  ?  And  what  concord 
hath  Christ  with  Belial  ?  Or  what  part 
hath  he  that  believeth  with  an  infidel  ? 
And  what  agreement  hath  the  temple  of 
God  with  idols  ?  For  ye  are  the  temple 
of  the  living  God ;  as  God  hath  said,  I  will 
dwell  in  them  and  walk  in  them  ;  and  I  will 
be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people. 
Wherefore  come  out  from  among  them,  and 


36  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and  touch 
not  the  unclean  thing ;  and  I  will  receive 
you  and  will  be  a  Father  unto  you,  and  you 
shall  be  my  sons  and  daughters,  saith  the 
Lord  Almighty." 

The  honest  professor  of  religion  will 
understand  the  thorouehness  of  the  self- 
devotement  involved  in  the  act  of  profes- 
sion. He  will  forsake  all  to  follow  Christ, 
and  in  the  surrender  will  make  no  reserve 
— will  keep  back  no  part  of  the  price. 

VIII. 

These  views  of  the  Christian  life,  deep 
and  far-reaching  as  they  are,  certainly  cor- 
respond with  the  form  of  that  life  presented 
in  the  Scriptures.  They  must  be  true  if 
the  Christian  religion  has  anything  of  the 
significance  ascribed  to  it  by  the  inspired 
writers. 

It  cannot  be  safe  to  reject  them  as  ex- 
travagant or  fanatical,  for  that  would  be  to 
charge  the  Saviour  and  his  apostles  with 
misleading  and  trifling  with  the  souls  they 
are  evidently  so  anxious  to  guide  into  the 
way  of  life.     It  cannot   be  safe    to  follow 


TRUE   RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  37 

the  lower  standards  of  religious  living 
which  may  be  common  among  professed 
Christians,  for  that  would  be  to  put  the 
human  idea  of  religion  in  the  place  of  the 
divine. 

O  believer,  see  to  it  that  these  views  are 
well  weighed  and  deliberately  accepted  in 
making  your  profession  of  religion  !  Mis- 
takes in  your  negotiations  with  God  must 
be  fatal  to  the  whole  transaction.  Fair- 
dealing  is  the  only  kind  of  dealing  which 
can  have  success  with  him,  and  fair-dealing 
here  requires  that  your  true  self,  and  your 
whole  self,  should  be  given  to  him  when 
you  profess  to  become  his  servant. 

Remember,  it  is  your  soul  which  you  are 
seeking  to  save,  your  soul  which  Christ 
died  to  redeem,  your  soul  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  employed  in  sanctifying.  It  is 
with  the  soul  that  you  must  realize  and 
express  your  religion.  Unless  the  soul 
has  been  united  to  Christ,  there  is  no  life 
in  you  ;  unless  the  soul  has  uttered  itself 
in  your  vows  of  church-membership,  they 
have  been  an  empty  form ;  unless  the  soul 
has  gone  with  your  sacramental  acts,  there 


38  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

is  no  meaning  in  them.  It  would  have 
been  better  if  they  had  never  been  per- 
formed, for  they  have  been  but  a  semblance 
and  a  pretence.  Your  religious  life,  if  such 
it  can  be  called,  will  be  a  heartless  and 
mechanical  servitude  without  consistency 
or  effectiveness,  without  value  in  the  sight 
of  God  and  without  comfort  to  yourself. 
To  enter  the  church  with  any  other  views 
than  those  which  have  been  described  will 
be  to  entail  upon  you  the  misery  of  at- 
tempting to  serve  two  masters,  will  expose 
you  to  endless  self-contradictions,  and  will 
leave  you,  like  the  branch  that  abideth  not 
in  the  vine,  to  be  ultimately  withered,  cast 
out  and  burned  in  the  fire. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  RULE  OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING, 

A  RELIGIOUS  life  is  one  which  at  all 
points  maintains  a  contact  and  a 
communication    with    God. 

That  "God  is  not  in  all  his  thouQfhts  " 
(Ps.  X.  4)  is  the  definition  of  an  irreligious 
man.  The  reverse  is  true  of  the  religious 
man :  God  is  in  all  his  thoughts  ;  the  law 
of  the  Lord  is  his  meditation  day  and 
night.  The  motive,  the  purpose,  the  act, 
which  is  not  coupled  with  faith  in  God  and 
does  not  recognize  his  authority,  however 
good  and  commendable  it  may  be  under 
certain  aspects,  is  not  religious.  Every 
step  in  religious  living  must  be  taken,  so 
to  speak,  in  company  with  God,  and  must 
help  to  form  a  walk  with  God.  Following 
Christ  is  at  the  same  time  a  "  walkinor  in 
him  "  (Col.  ii.  6). 

It  is  of  the  first  importance  to  the  Chris- 


40  FOLLOW  J NG    CHRIST. 

tian — indeed,  it  is  the  very  condition  of  his 
spiritual  health  and  progress — that  he 
should  be  kept  consciously  and  intelli- 
gently under  the  influence  of  this  associa- 
tion with  God  in  Christ.  Hence,  in  seek- 
inor  for  a  rule  for  his  relig^ious  life  he  must 
assure  himself  that  everything  which  it 
contains  expresses  the  mind  of  God  and 
is  accompanied  by  the  authority  of  God. 
The  conscience  is  enfeebled  and  vitiated 
just  in  proportion  as  it  admits  the  right  of 
any  other  sovereign  to  control  it.  The 
religious  affections  become  morbid  and 
fantastic  whenever  they  are  stimulated  by 
merely  human  excitements  or  directed 
through  merely  human  channels.  The 
proper  vital  element  of  the  soul  is  the 
"  inspiration  of  the  Almighty."  The  in- 
spiration of  man  is  a  source  of  disease  and 
corruption,  just  as  the  body  is  sustained  by 
the  pure  atmospheric  air  breathed  down 
upon  it  from  the  regions  above,  and  sickens 
when  exposed  to  the  mephitic  gases  which 
spring  from  the  earth  beneath.  To  usurp 
the  prerogative  of  God  and  arbitrarily  to 
burden    the    consciences    of    men    with    a 


THE   RULE    OF  RELIGIOUS   LIVING.         4 1 

schedule  of  duties  of  its  own  invention,  as 
the  Romish  Church  has  done,  is  to  bring 
the  minds  of  its  subjects  into  the  grossest 
bondage  and  to  expose  them  to  the  va- 
garies of  a  bhnd  superstition.  To  teach, 
for  instance,  that  hoHness,  which  is  the 
essential  attribute  of  God,  and  which 
attaches  only  to  things  which  he  has  seen 
fit  to  associate  with  himself,  is  attached  to 
places  and  times  and  relics,  is  to  break  the 
bond  of  faith  by  which  the  soul  is  kept  in 
union  with  God  and  to  make  it  the  victim 
of  an  indefinite  credulity.  From  such  a 
debasing  apostasy  as  this  Christ  came  to 
deliver  his  followers,  and  therefore  he 
taught  them  that  the  true  worshipers  of 
God  are  those  who  worship  him,  not  by 
frequenting  certain  shrines  or  observing 
certain  rites,  but  "  in  spirit  and  in  truth ;" 
and  that  the  keeping  of  the  traditions  of 
men  is  practically  a  rejecting  of  the  com- 
mandments of  God  (Mark  vii.  9). 

I. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  Christian 
is  to  seek   his  great  rule  of  living  in    the 


42  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

Bible.  From  the  character  which  is  as- 
sumed by  that  book  as  the  "word  of  God" 
and  the  "  law  of  the  Lord,"  it  exactly  fills 
the  place  which  is  required  of  anything 
which  claims  to  be  a  rule  of  religious  liv- 
ing, and  a  place  which  nothing  else  claim- 
ing to  be  such  a  rule  can  fill.  Whatever 
the  Bible  enjoins  as  right  or  forbids  as 
wrong  is  presented  to  the  believer  as  right 
or  wrong  in  the  judgment  of  God ;  he  ac- 
cepts it  as  right  or  wrong  on  the  direct 
ground  of  God's  authority.  This  authority 
is  legitimate  ;  in  acknowledging  it  the  soul 
is  acting  both  rationally  and  religiously. 

The  adequacy  of  the  Bible  as  a  rule  of 
life  is  also  complete.  It  is  one  of  the 
strongest  proofs  that  it  is  the  product  of 
a  divine  Mind  that  it  is  so  constructed  as 
to  meet  all  the  requirements  of  a  directory 
for  all  men  in  following  Christ.  It  ac- 
complishes its  objects  in  a  manner  which 
is  thorough  and  peculiar  to  itself.  It  does 
not  propound  a  code  of  formal  laws  pre- 
scribing by  what  particular  acts  a  man  is  to 
serve  God  or  by  what  set  of  doings  or  not- 
doings  he  is  to  prove  himself  a  Christian 


THE   RULE    OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.         43 

man.  From  the  outset  it  draws  a  distinc- 
tion between  "  the  letter  "  and  "  the  spirit." 
It  acts  upon  the  principle  that  you  must 
make  the  tree  good  before  you  can  expect 
the  fruit  to  be  good.  If  it  writes  the  ten 
commandments  on  visible  tablets  of  stone, 
it  shows  that  they  all  hang  upon  the  law, 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
with  all  thy  mind"  (Matt.  xxii.  ^il)-  It 
begins  its  work  of  regulating  the  life  of 
the  man  by  regulating  the  affections  and 
dispositions  that  lie  within  him,  so  that  his 
supreme  desire  shall  be  to  do  the  will  of 
his  Father  in  heaven.  It  purges  the  eye 
of  the  traveler  before  it  sets  before  him 
the  map  from  which  he  is  to  learn  his  way. 
As  the  Saviour  teaches  (John  vii.  17),  it  is 
the  man  who  "  wills  " — that  is,  zvishes — to 
do  God's  will  to  whom  the  doctrine,  the 
positive  law,  of  God  becomes  intelligible 
and  authoritative. 

The  Bible  next  to  such  a  willine  mind 
communicates  such  a  conception  of  the 
character  and  mind  of  God  as  makes  it 
easy  for   the  believer  to  determine  in  all 


44  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

cases  and  at  all  seasons  what  his  will  must 
be.  The  Bible  is  from  first  to  last  a  rev- 
elation of  God.  The  faithful  student  of 
it  grows  in  the  knowledge  of  God  from 
day  to  day ;  and,  as  God  is  the  embodiment 
of  all  the  elements  and  principles  of  recti- 
tude, the  knowledge  of  him  is  identical 
with  a  knowledge  of  these  elements  and 
principles.  In  the  light  of  them  the  hon- 
est seeker  can  always  find  the  path  of  duty. 
He  does  not  need,  like  the  man  walking 
through  the  intricate  streets  of  a  city  by 
night,  to  track  his  way  by  the  blaze  of  a 
series  of  lamps,  but  it  lies  before  him 
clearly  defined  in  the  broad  sunlight  by 
which  the  whole  scene  around  him  is 
illumined. 

Once  more,  the  Bible  does  its  work  by 
keeping  the  mind  of  the  follower  of  Christ 
always  directly  under  the  wholesome  in- 
fluence of  God's  immediate  presence  and 
guidance.  As  it  is  the  attractive  property 
of  the  magnet  which  keeps  the  needle 
pointing  to  it,  so  the  soul,  under  the  im- 
pressions communicated  to  it  by  God's 
word,  is  pervaded  with  a  spiritual  suscepti- 


THE   RULE   OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.         45 

bility  or  tractability  of  temper  toward  God 
which  makes  it  almost  spontaneously  re- 
spond to  every  intimation  of  his  will.  Thus 
Jesus  says  (John  vi.  44)  that  it  is  through  a 
"drawing"  of  the  Father  that  any  man 
comes  to  him.  It  is  this  habitual  or  in- 
stinctive cleaving  of  the  soul  to  God — this 
"  following  hard  after  him,"  as  the  Psalmist 
calls  it  (Ps.  Ixiii.  8) — which  keeps  the 
Christian  in  the  right  ways  of  God  and 
protects  him  from  converting  religious  liv- 
ing into  a  mere  self-imposed  will-worship 
on  the  one  hand,  or  a  mere  mechanical  rit- 
ualism on  the  other. 

To  the  question,  therefore,  "  By  what 
rule  am  I  to  regulate  my  conduct?"  which 
the  professor  of  religion  will  naturally  ask, 
and  ought  to  ask,  I  would  answer,  The 
Bible.  Take  that  as  the  "  man  of  your 
counsel,"  and  use  other  guides  only  as 
aids  to  your  knowledge  of  that.  The 
Bible,  if  studied  with  the  simple  desire 
to  know  the  will  of  God  and  with  a  fair 
and  intelligent  application  of  its  teachings, 
will  give  you  all  the  light  you  need.  What- 
ever formal  rules  you  may  see  fit  to  adopt 


46  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

must  be  drawn  from  this  source,  or  they 
can  have  no  authority  over  you.  By  going 
to  the  original  fountain  you  will  be  kept 
most  sensibly  under  the  very  law  of  God, 
and,  furthermore,  will  be  sufficiently  thrown 
upon  your  own  vigilance  and  discretion  to 
keep  your  sense  of  responsibility  for  the 
manner  of  your  living  in  habitual  and 
healthy  exercise. 

Be,  then,  above  all  things,  if  you  wish  to 
be  a  genuine  follower  of  Christ,  a  student 
of  the  Bible.  And  by  the  term  "  student  " 
here  I  mean  much  more  than  a  mere 
reader.  The  distinction  between  these 
terms  I  shall  endeavor  to  point  out  in 
the  following  remarks. 

II. 

In  order  to  study  the  Bible,  it  must  be 
read  with  a  purpose  or  for  the  sake  of  a 
definite  benefit. 

An  aimless  or  vagrant  reading  of  God's 
word,  or  the  reading  of  it  without  an  object 
to  which  the  reading  of  it  is  to  introduce 
us,  is  as  futile  an  effort  of  mind  as  would 
be  the  repeating  of  so  many  words  in  an 


THE   RULE  OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.         4/ 

unknown  tongrue.  To  read  the  Bible  with 
the  expectation  that  the  mere  act  is  to 
aid  us  is  to  treat  it  as  we  would  a  charm. 
It  is  the  same  kind  of  act  as  that  of  the 
Romanist  when  he  kisses  a  crucifix  or 
sprinkles  himself  with  holy  water.  The 
Bible  is  to  be  consulted  for  the  purpose  of 
learning  from  it  how  God  is  to  be  pleased 
or  how  Christ  is  to  be  followed ;  its  use 
consists  in  its  fitness  and  ability  to  give 
this  knowledge.  If  nothing  is  sought  from 
it,  nothing  will  be  gained.  The  connection 
which  our  Lord  so  emphatically  noticed 
between  the  acts  of  seeking  and  finding, 
asking  and  receiving,  knocking  and  the 
opening  of  a  door,  applies  to  the  study  of 
the  Bible.  To  find  anything  in  it,  there 
must  be  a  seeking ;  to  receive  anything 
from  it,  there  must  be  an  asking;  to  gain 
access  to  its  contents,  there  must  be  a 
knocking.  If  the  professing  Christian  be 
honest  in  his  profession,  he  will  be  able  to 
give  an  answer  to  the  question,  "  Why  do 
you  read  your  Bible  ?"  It  will  be,  "  Because 
I  wish  to  learn  how  I  am  to  live  as  a 
Christian ;    because    I    earnestly    desire  to 


48  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

acquire  all  the  instruction  within  my  reach 
in  regard  to  the  type  of  character  and  the 
manner  of  life  which  befit  me  as  a  Chris- 
tian." Such  a  one  will  crave  such  infor- 
mation as  the  Bible  contains  just  as  a  hun- 
gry man  craves  food.  His  craving  for  the 
truth  which  acquaints  him  with  God  and 
his  will  will  have  in  it  all  the  distinctness 
and  force  of  an  appetite.  This  appetite  he 
will  bring  with  him  to  the  Scriptures  when- 
ever he  reads  them.  And  Scripture  truth 
will  have  a  relish  in  it  corresponding  to 
this  appetite.  It  may  be  taken  as  a  sign 
of  a  decline  in  the  spiritual  health  of  any 
Christian  when  this  relish  for  the  Bible 
declines.  The  difference  between  a  spirit- 
ual mind  and  a  worldly  mind  evinces  itself 
in  one  prominent  way  in  this — that,  while 
the  latter  desires  not  the  knowledgre  of 
God,  the  former  esteems  such  knowledge 
to  be  supremely  valuable  and  is  attracted 
to  it  by  an  instinctive  affection. 

If  love  to  God  be  in  the  soul,  as  it  must 
be  in  the  case  of  the  true  believer,  it  will 
express  itself  as  naturally  as  in  any  con- 
ceivable way,  by   a   habit   of  reading   the 


THE  RULE   OE  REfJGIOUS  LIVING.         49 

Bible,  and  reading  it  specifically  for  the  pur- 
pose of  gaining  a  better  acquaintance  with 
God.  The  Bible  will  be  taken  up  with  a 
de6nite  desire  to  learn  something  from  it, 
and  will  be  laid  down  with  the  inquiries, 
"What  have  I  learned  ?  What  new  views 
of  truth  have  been  acquired?  What  pre- 
vious ones  have  been  confirmed  ?  What 
new  emotions  have  been  awakened,  or 
what  familiar  ones  have  been  quickened, 
by  this  reading  of  it  ?"  The  remark  often 
made,  "  I  read  my  Bible  daily,"  or  ''  I  read 
so  much  of  it  statedly,"  means  nothing  un- 
less it  means  that  the  reading  has  been 
conducted  with  direct  reference  to  the 
spiritual  profiting  of  the  reader.  The 
eyes  that,  seeing,  see  not,  and  the  ears 
that,  hearing,  hear  not,  the  things  which 
God  has  revealed  are  marks  of  the  rep- 
robate, not  of  the  child  of  God. 

III. 
The  Bible  is  to  be  studied  in  a  reveren- 
tial spirit. 

Every  application  of  the  mind  to  it  is  an 
exercise  as  truly  devotional  as  prayer  ;  it 
4 


50  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

is  literally  communing  with  God.  Those 
formulas,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  "Thus 
spake  the  Spirit "  or  "  the  Holy  Ghost," 
which  are  so  frequent  in  the  Scriptures, 
affirm  that  the  reader  is  brought  by  these 
Scriptures  into  direct  communication  with 
the  mind  of  God.  The  effect  of  this  con- 
viction ought  to  be  to  invest  the  Bible  with 
a  sacredness  which  cannot  possibly  attach 
to  any  merely  human  composition.  Any- 
thing which  serves  to  address  the  soul, 
however  remotely,  as  a  voice  from  God — 
as  some  of  the  stupendous  objects  or 
startling  phenomena  of  nature — irresist- 
ibly suffuses  it  with  a  feeling  of  awe.  The 
Bible  is  that  voice  speaking  in  articulate 
tones.  The  character  which  it  claims  for 
itself  is  that  it  is,  as  to  the  contents  of  it 
or  the  things  which  it  reveals  and  teaches, 
a  direct  utterance  from  God.  Moses  and 
the  prophets  wrote  it,  but  they  wrote  it  by 
the  command  of  God  and  for  the  purpose 
of  eivinof  to  men  the  knowledo^e  which 
God  thought  it  necessary  for  them  to 
possess ;  and  the  testimony  which  it  gives, 
according  to  the    Saviour's  emphatic   dec- 


THE    RULE   OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  5  I 

laration  (Luke  xvi.  31),  is  entitled  to  a 
credit  greater  than  that  which  would  be 
due  to  one  risen  from  the  dead.  What  the 
reader  of  the  Bible  needs  is  always  to 
have  the  sense  of  its  sacredness  present  to 
his  mind.  The  impressions  left  by  its 
teaching  will  be  genuine  only  when  made 
with  the  aid  and  throueh  the  medium  of 
this  sense.  God's  voice  will  not  have  the 
effect  of  God's  voice  if  it  be  not  consciously 
recognized  as  his  voice.  It  is  the  intelli- 
gent apprehension  of  this  feature  in  the 
Bible  that  it  is  God's  voice  speaking  to  the 
reader  which  will  make  the  use  of  it  a  real 
converse  with  God. 

Now,  this  sense  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
Bible  is  something  which  the  man  who 
seeks  to  find  in  it  a  rule  of  religious 
living  must  religiously  cherish  and  culti- 
vate. Familiarity  with  any  object  is  known 
— even  to  a  proverb — to  abate  the  feeling 
of  reverence  with  which  it  was  at  first 
reg^arded.  And  then  the  elevated  frame 
of  mind — the  strain  perhaps  it  may  be 
called — which  is  implied  in  a  feeling  of 
reverence    is    apt  to  subside  or   grow  lax 


52  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

through  the  effort  required  to  maintain  it. 
Before  one  is  aware  of  it  in  reading  the 
Bible  the  spirit  may  sink  back  from  the 
height  to  which  it  had  been  Hfted  by  the 
thought  of  God,  and  page  after  page  of 
the  divine  book  may  be  Hstlessly  passed 
over  without  the  inspiration  of  that 
thought. 

This  sense  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
Bible,  must,  I  repeat,  be  carefully  fostered 
by  the  Christian.  Just  because  it  is  one 
of  those  forms  of  spiritual  sensibility,  one 
of  those  delicate  habits,  which  prove  the 
perfectness  of  the  organism  in  which  they 
reside,  it  is  easily  impaired,  or  even  lost. 
As  the  ear  which  is  not  quick  to  discern 
the  distinction  of  sounds  would  never 
convey  to  the  heart  the  peculiar  force 
which  lies  in  a  tone  of  friendship  or  love, 
so  the  Bible,  when  it  is  not  felt  by  the 
soul  to  be  the  voice  of  God,  cannot  affect 
the  soul  with  the  force  which  properly  be- 
longs to  a  communication  from  him. 


THE   RULE    OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  53 

IV. 

The  Bible  is  to  be  studied  in  a  spirit  of 
docility  and  submissiveness. 

It  speaks  with  authority.  The  teachings 
of  Jesus  impressed  the  people  with  the 
conviction  that  he  spake  in  this  way,  and 
their  minds,  in  listening  to  him,  spon- 
taneously assented  to  the  truth  of  his 
doctrines  and  the  justness  of  his  precepts. 
The  disposition  to  criticise  and  to  contro- 
vert, in  which,  perhaps,  we  may  lawfully 
indulge  when  reading  an  ordinary  book, 
we  should  habitually  repress  in  dealing 
with  the  Bible.  Clearly,  the  Christian, 
whatever  he  may  once  have  done,  does  not, 
after  surrendering  his  faith  to  God,  claim 
the  right  to  m.ake  his  own  opinion  the 
arbiter  in  matters  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness. He  has  become  the  little  child,  and 
confessing  his  own  ignorance  and  foolish- 
ness, and  rejoicing  to  recognize  in  God  a 
Father  who  cannot  err  and  will  not  deceive, 
he  looks  up  to  him  as  the  ultimate  arbiter  in 
all  such  matters.  Confidence  in  the  infalli- 
ble source  of  his  knowledge  precludes  all 
questioning    and    argument,    because    all 


54  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

questions  are  solved  and  all  arguments  are 
comprehended  in  the  one  conviction  that 
the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God. 

There  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  such 
confidence.  It  is  in  just  such  confidence 
that  the  scholar  takes  as  true  what  his 
teacher  tells  him  is  true,  and  the  child  does 
or  refrains  from  doing  the  things  which  his 
parents  command  or  forbid.  It  is  only  re- 
ceiving as  truth  what  comes  through  the 
testimony  of  One  who  knows,  and  accept- 
ing as  duty  what  is  enjoined  by  One  who 
has  the  right  to  command  us  and  who  ex- 
ercises his  right  for  our  interest.  The  all- 
sufificient  reason,  in  both  cases,  is  found  in 
the  character  of  him  whom  we  trust  and 
obey.  I  am  assuming,  of  course,  that  the 
Christian,  upon  grounds  which  he  deems 
reasonable,  has  accepted  the  Bible  as  a 
revelation  from  God,  and  that  by  the  use 
of  his  reasonable  faculties  he  has  ascer- 
tained what  is  the  testimony  of  the  Bible 
on  any  given  point  of  truth  or  duty. 
Then,  I  say,  the  act  of  receiving  this  testi- 
mony without  further  questioning  or  argu- 
ment is    entirely  reasonable.     Speculation 


THE   RULE   OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  55 

and  debate  should  end  when  God  speaks. 
This  state  of  mind,  this  docihty  and  sub- 
missiveness  of  temper,  of  which  I  am 
speaking,  is  a  condition  essential  to  the 
profitable  studying  of  the  Scriptures.  For 
the  mind  must  be  trustingly  and  lovingly 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  teacher  in  order 
to  be  taught.  Doubt  and  suspicion  enter- 
tained in  regard  to  the  source  from  which 
information  is  sought  will  impair  the  com- 
pleteness of  the  result,  if  they  do  not 
defeat  it  altogether.  They  will  be  like 
obstructions  in  the  mouth  of  the  vessel 
we  are  attempting  to  fill,  or  like  pebbles 
in  the  mass  of  clay  we  are  trying  to  mould 
into  symmetrical  form. 

It  may  be  added  to  this  that  the  enjoy- 
ment which  the  mind  feels  in  reposing  with 
an  assurance  upon  the  trustworthiness  of 
a  teacher  is  necessary  to  a  full  impression 
of  anything  communicated  to  it.  We  fre- 
quently use  the  phrase  '' restmg  upon 
testimony,"  and  use  it  in  two  senses — first, 
that  of  confiding  in  it  as  a  genuine  ground 
of  belief;  and  second,  that  of  deriving 
from    it   a   sense  of   comfort   and    repose. 


56  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

Where  there  is  no  "  resting  "  in  the  latter  of 
these  senses,  there  is  probably  none  in  the 
former  of  them.  Certainly,  no  adequate  im- 
pression of  the  thing  testified  can  be  made 
upon  the  mind.  It  is  the  boast  of  the  Roman- 
ist that  in  accepting  the  dogma  of  the  infal- 
libility of  the  Church  he  is  relieved  of  all 
uneasiness  or  risks  in  his  belief.  To  be  safe 
he  has  simply  to  believe  what  the  Church 
tells  him  to  believe.  If  he  can  accept 
this  dogma,  he  undoubtedly  does  experience 
this  relief.  Now,  the  temper  in  which  the 
Romanist  rests  upon  the  testimony  of  the 
Church  is  that  in  which  the  Christian 
should  rest  upon  the  testimony  of  the 
Bible.  It  is  resting  which  brings  with  it  a 
sense  of  comfort  and  repose,  and  it  does 
this  because  it  is  the  resting  of  a  true  faith. 
In  the  possession  of  this  temper  the  stu- 
dent will  approach  the  Bible  with  that 
cordial  reliance  upon  its  truthfulness  and 
competency,  and  with  that  freedom  from 
all  forms  of  strife  with  its  teachings,  which 
will  prepare  him  like  an  empty  vessel  to 
be  filled,  or  like  the  plastic  clay  to  be 
moulded  into  figure. 


THE   RULE   OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  5/ 

The  disposition  I  am  recommending  is 
not  inconsistent  with  a  sense  of  surprise  in 
the  mind  of  the  reader  at  particular  things 
with  which  he  meets  in  the  Bible.  He  may 
be  rationally  forced  to  admit  to  himself 
every  now  and  then,  "This  is  a  strange 
incident,"  or  *'  This  is  a  hard  saying ;"  but 
the  obstacles  of  faith  which  a  minute  and 
shortsighted  criticism  might  find  in  such 
enigmatical  passages  will  disappear  in  a 
moment  before  the  evidence  for  the  cred- 
ibility of  the  book  which  blazes  like  sun- 
light in  the  general  facts  of  its  history,  its 
attributes,  its  contents,  its  aptitudes,  its 
correspondences  with  the  facts  of  life  and 
nature,  its  varied  uses  as  a  factor  in  society, 
and  its  beneficent  effects  upon  human 
character  and  destiny.  To  conclude,  from 
the  occasional  features  in  it  which  we  do 
not  understand,  that  all  this  body  of  evi- 
dence is  worthless  would  be  as  unreason- 
able as  to  affirm  that  a  watch  was  no  safe 
and  useful  index  of  time  because  there 
were  parts  of  its  structure  which  the 
observer  could  not  see  to  be  consistent 
with  its  plan  or  conducive  to  its  result. 


58  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

V. 

The  Bible  should  be  read  with  a  convic- 
tion that  in  it  there  is  lodged  a  power  to 
confer  upon  the  faithful  student  certain  and 
manifold  benefits. 

This  is  simply  to  use  it  as  a  means  of 
grace  or  as  one  of  the  instrumentalities 
through  which  God  is  accustomed  to  bestow 
spiritual  benefits.  The  passages  which 
ascribe  a  capacity  and  a  potency  of  this 
kind  to  the  Scriptures  are  almost  innumer- 
able. David,  in  the  nineteenth  psalm,  from 
verse  7  to  verse  10,  represents  them  as 
charged  with  an  energy  as  diversified  and 
as  efficacious  as  that  of  the  sun.  They 
convert  the  soul,  make  wise  the  simple, 
rejoice  the  heart  and  enlighten  the  eyes. 
In  Jer.  xxiii.  29  the  word  of  the  Lord  is 
likened  to  a  fire  and  to  a  hammer  that 
break  the  rock  in  pieces.  Our  Lord  says 
(John  vi.  63),  "The  words  that  I  speak 
unto  you,  they  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life." 
St.  Paul  reminds  Timothy  (2  Tim.  iii.  15) 
that  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  able  to 
make  him  **  wise  unto  salvation  ;"  and  in 
addressing  the  Ephesian    elders   (Acts  xx. 


THE   RULE    OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.         59 

22)  he  commends  them  "to  God  and  the 
word  of  his  grace/'  which  is  able  to  build 
them  up  and  to  give  them  an  inheritance 
among  all  them  that  are  sanctified.  Jesus, 
in  his  intercession  for  his  disciples  (John 
xvii.  17),  prays,  "Sanctify  them  through  thy 
truth :  thy  word  is  truth."  Such  expres- 
sions must  be  stripped  of  their  natural 
significance  if  we  do  not  understand  them 
to  teach  that  in  the  Bible  there  is  a  property 
which  is  peculiar  to  it,  and  which  makes  it 
capable  of  communicating  gracious  influ- 
ences to  the  reader  using  it  aright,  such 
as  are  not  to  be  expected  from  any  other 
book. 

This  property,  I  need  hardly  say,  is  not 
magical,  such  as  an  ignorant  devotee  sup- 
poses to  belong  to  a  consecrated  candle 
or  to  the  water  of  the  Ganges.  The  mere 
use  of  the  letter  of  the  Bible  or  the  mere 
mechanical  reading  of  it  will  not  secure 
the  exercise  of  it.  It  is  simply  the  result 
of  God's  blessing  upon  the  honest  and  the 
earnest  effort  of  the  soul  to  know  his  will 
and  to  enjoy  communion  with  him.  The 
effect  of  a  conviction  of  the  realitv  of  it  is, 


6o  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

not  to  produce  superstition,  but  to  encour- 
age and  enliven  faith  and  to  induce  in  the 
mind  of  the  student,  as  often  as  he  takes  up 
the  sacred  record,  the  same  feeHng  of  pleas- 
ant expectancy  which  one  carries  with  him 
when  he  strikes  the  cords  of  an  instrument 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  musical  sounds, 
or  when  he  opens  the  shutter  of  a  dark 
room  for  the  purpose  of  admitting  light. 
There  is  implied  in  such  a  feeling  a  motive 
which  looks  beyond  mere  entertainment, 
or  even  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  and 
seeks  and  expects  from  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  a  spiritual  refreshment  and 
invigoration  analogous  to  that  helpful  in- 
spiration of  the  body  which  is  sought 
and  expected  from  the  inhaling  of  the 
sea-breeze  or  the  mountain-air.  Like  the 
blessing  of  the  new  wine  which  the  prophet 
says  (Isa.  Ixv.)  8  is  found  in  a  cluster  of 
grapes,  so  it  may  be  said  to  the  believer,  as 
often  as  he  handles  God's  word,  "  Touch  it 
thankfully,  touch  it  hopefully ;  for  there  is 
a  blessing  in  it." 


THE   RULE    OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.         6 J 

VI. 

With  this  conviction,  the  Christian  should 
study  the  Bible  with  a  solemn  impression 
that  he  is  dealing  with  that  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  uses  as  the  means  of  his  supernatural 
working. 

That  the  soul  of  the  Christian  is  the 
subject  of  this  supernatural  working  from 
the  beginning  to  the  completion  of  its 
spiritual  history  is  so  clearly  taught  in  the 
Scriptures  that  I  need  not  pause  to  show 
the  proof  of  the  doctrine.  The  point  with 
which  I  am  concerned  is  the  further  doc- 
trine of  Scripture  that  it  is  in  connection 
with  the  truths  of  revelation  that  this  work- 
ing is  ordinarily  (at  least)  carried  on.  This 
procedure  is  due  to  two  facts — first,  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  operates  upon  the  soul  in 
accordance  with,  and  not  in  violation  of, 
the  laws  of  its  nature  ;  and  second,  that  it 
is  one  of  these  laws  that  the  soul,  in  order 
to  be  in  a  rieht  state,  should  be  in  a^ree- 

<_>  '  o 

ment  with  the  truth.  To  bring  it  into  a 
right  state,  therefore — which  is  what  the 
Holy  Spirit  undertakes  to  do — it  must  be 
made  to  see,  to  accept  and  to  feel  the  truth. 


62  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

When,  for  instance,  the  Holy  Spirit  would 
lead  the  soul  out  of  a  state  of  sinfulness 
into  one  of  holiness,  he  must  convince  it 
that  its  former  state  is  at  variance  with  the 
truth,  and  that  its  latter  state  is  in  harmony 
with  the  truth ;  he  must  show  it  that  the 
one  is  a  false  way  and  the  other  a  right 
way.  It  is  through  a  perception  of  the 
truth  and  an  acknowledgment  of  the  truth 
that  the  change  is  to  be  effected.  "  Thy 
word  is  truth,"  says  the  Saviour;  and  the 
word  of  God  is  the  Bible.  In  entire  con- 
sistency, therefore,  with  the  nature  of  the 
soul,  the  Holy  Spirit  works  with  and  through 
the  contents  of  the  Bible.  In  the  use  of 
the  Bible  men  must  seek  for  and  expect 
his  supernatural  aid.  Those  right  percep- 
tions, right  affections,  right  principles  and 
right  purposes  which  the  Holy  Spirit  would 
implant  in  the  heart  he  will  introduce  there 
by  applying  to  the  heart  the  truths  of  the 
Bible.  And  the  Bible  is  to  be  read,  there- 
fore, with  a  constant  and  serious  recognition 
of  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  present 
in  it  and  as  concurrent  with  the  exercise 
of    reading   it.      Such   a    recognition   was 


THE    RULE    OF  RELIGIOUS  LLVING.         63 

certainly  in  the  Psalmist's  mind  when  he 
prayed  (Ps.  cxix.  i8),  ''Open  thou  mine 
eyes  that  I  may  behold  wondrous  things 
out  of  thy  law ;"  and  it  was  no  less  clearly 
in  the  apostle's  mind  when  he  told  the 
Corinthians  (i  Cor.  ii.  14)  that  "the 
things  of  the  Spirit  of  God  are  to  be 
spiritually  discerned,"  or  apprehended  by 
a  discernment  communicated  by  the  Spirit ; 
and  that  their  faith  stood  not  in  the  wis- 
dom of  man,  but  in  the  power  of  God,  be- 
cause it  was  in  the  "  demonstration  of  the 
Spirit"  that  the  gospel  had  been  preached 
to  them  and  received  by  them. 

This  connection  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  in- 
fluence with  the  use  of  the  Bible  suggests 
not  only  the  habit  of  looking  for  his  aid, 
but  the  duty  of  asking  for  it.  The  offices 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  are  specially  to  be 
sought  for  by  prayer  (Luke  xi.  13)  ;  hence 
the  reading  of  the  Bible  should  be  accom- 
panied with  prayer  for  divine  light  The 
success  of  the  exercise,  any  one  can  see, 
largely  depends  upon  the  temper  of  mind 
with  which  the  Scriptures  are  at  any  time 
studied  and  upon  the  manner  in  which  the 


64  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

truths  it  presents  strike  the  mind.  Here, 
in  determining  this  temper  and  this  man- 
ner, is  a  place  for  the  interposition  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  A  simple  and  earnest  plead- 
ing for  the  benefit  of  this  interposition  will 
show  both  that  the  student  is  eagerly  seek- 
ing the  knowledge  of  God's  word  and  that 
he  is  relying  in  his  search,  not  upon  the 
*'  wisdom  of  man "  merely,  but  upon  the 
"  power  of  God."  Forgetfulness  of  this 
latter  duty  or  a  presumptuous  confidence 
in  his  own  intellectual  sufficiency  may  lead 
a  man  into  the  grave  offence  of  "  quench- 
ing the  Spirit "  even  when  professedly  en- 
gaged in  the  study  of  the  things  of  the 
Spirit. 

VII. 

The  study  of  the  Bible  implies  that  the 
reading  of  it  is  followed  by  meditation. 

It  is  the  thinking  of  a  thing  which  fastens 
it  in  the  mind  and  causes  it  to  take  effect 
upon  the  mind.  "While  I  was  musing," 
says  the  Psalmist  (Ps.  xxxix.  3),  "the  fire 
burned."  All  that  has  been  heretofore 
said  of  the   nature  and   capacities  of  the 


THE  RULE   OF  REIJGIOUS  LJVING.  65 

Bible  is  enouorh  to  show  that  there  are 
results  to  be  reached  through  the  study 
of  it  which  are  real,  and  that  they  are 
worth  an  earnest  effort  to  attain  them. 
They  are  likened  to  hid  treasure  and  de- 
serve to  be  sought  for  by  patient  effort. 
Meditation  is  the  precise  effort  of  the 
mind,  not  only  to  uncover  the  contents 
of  the  Bible  and  to  satisfy  the  intelligence 
as  to  whether  they  are  there  and  as  to 
what  their  import  is,  but  to  make  them 
actually  the  possession  of  the  student.  It 
is  the  process  by  which  we  give  life  and 
force  to  the  things  which  the  Scripture 
reveals.  It  is  not  simply  acquisitive,  aim- 
ing to  gain  a  knowledge  of  what  is  written, 
nor  simply  inquisitive,  aiming  to  find  out 
the  exact  value  of  words  and  meaning 
of  propositions.  It  may  include  these  or 
presuppose  them,  but  it  goes  beyond  them. 
It  is  the  feeding  upon  food  already  provid- 
ed and  prepared  rather  than  the  providing 
and  preparing  of  it.  It  is  a  sort  of  rumi- 
nation upon  what  is  already  accepted  by 
the  mind  as  true  and  understood. 

This  is  a  complex  process  involving  acts 


66  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

of  perception,  memory,  attention  and  re- 
fiective  application.  It  requires  a  frank, 
docile,  truthful  and  devout  frame  of  mind. 
The  object  and  the  result  of  it  are  to 
transfer  the  sentiment  of  the  Bible  to  the 
heart  of  the  reader,  so  that  the  force  of 
whatever  kind  which  belongs  to  it  shall 
be  felt  and  responded  to  by  the  heart. 
Hence,  as  a  rule  for  Christians,  it  may  be 
stated  that  it  is  better  to  read  a  short 
portion  of  the  Bible  with  due  meditation 
than  much  in  an  unintelHgent  and  cursory 
way.  Some  good  men  have  adopted  the 
plan  of  selecting  at  the  beginning  of  each 
year  a  single  verse  as  a  motto  to  be  kept 
before  their  minds  during  the  year,  and 
have  found  it  a  spring  of  living  water 
affording  fresh  thoughts  and  healthful  in- 
spirations each  day. 

Difficulties,  I  am  aware,  in  the  way  of 
connecting  meditation  with  the  reading  of 
the  Scriptures  arise,  sometimes  from  a  lack 
of  aptitude  for  such  an  exercise,  of  which 
a  person  is  conscious,  and  more  frequently 
from  the  sense  of  irksomeness  which  at- 
tends  it.      Mental   work    of   any   kind,    to 


THE   RULE    OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING,  6/ 

one  not  trained  to  it,  is  confessedly  embar- 
rassing and  distasteful.  Hence,  many  who 
read  their  Bibles  never  ponder  in  their 
hearts  the  things  they  have  read.  They 
are  like  the  man  of  whom  St.  James  speaks 
(i.  23)  who  beholds  his  natural  face  in  a 
glass,  and  then  goes  his  way  and  ''  straight- 
way forgetteth  what  manner  of  man  he 
was."  An  honest  Christian,  however,  will 
feel,  in  the  case  of  the  word  of  God,  that 
no  trouble  in  the  effort  to  understand  it 
can  be  an  excuse  for  declining  the  effort. 

For  the  encouragement  of  the  weak 
disciple  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the 
mind  is  very  easily  put  under  the  con- 
trol of  regulated  habit,  and  that  the  very 
revelation  of  great  and  inspiring  truths  to 
the  soul  often  seems  to  quicken  the  intel- 
lect and  to  endow  even  an  uncultured 
mind  with  aptitudes  and  energies  of  which 
it  was  never  before  conscious.  Even  babes, 
under  the  illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
may  acquire  the  faculty  of  understanding 
things  which  are  hid  from  the  naturally 
wise  and  prudent. 

The  greatest  obstacle   which  will   beset 


68  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

the  duty  I  am  recommending  will  probably 
be  found,  in  the  insatiable  demands  of 
worldly  business.  The  Christian  will  be 
in  danger  of  concluding  that  he  has  no 
time  for  meditating  upon  what  he  reads 
in  the  word  of  God,  and  therefore  is  under 
no  obligation  to  concern  himself  with  the 
attempt.  This  danger  needs  to  be  rec- 
ognized and  to  be  guarded  against. 

Let  it  be  noticed  that  meditation  is  not 
literal  reading  and  does  not  require  the  pres- 
ence of  a  book,  and  that  it  is  not  technical 
study  and  does  not  require  the  seclusion  of  a 
closet  nor  the  facilities  of  a  library.  It  is 
simply  the  working  of  the  mind,  and  may 
be  performed,  to  some  extent,  wherever 
the  mind  is.  What  should  prevent  the 
performing  of  it,  therefore,  even  in  the 
place  of  business  ?  Why  should  not  some 
text  lodged  in  the  mind  in  the  morning  be 
summoned  from  the  memory,  looked  at 
and  thought  over  a  hundred  times  in  the 
day?  Why  should  it  not  be  at  hand,  like 
the  watch  in  one's  pocket,  to  be  consulted 
from  hour  to  hour?  Even  the  hard  sea- 
beach  over  which  the  incoming  wave  rolls 


THE   RULE   OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.         69 

back  again,  withdrawing  its  volume  as  rap- 
idly as  it  poured  it  in,  will  show  here  and 
there  a  cavity  in  which  will  sparkle  a  litde 
pool  of  crystal  water  left  by  the  receding 
tide.  Surely  the  busiest  soul,  washed  over 
merely,  as  it  may  seem  to  have  been,  by 
the  truths  of  God's  word  which  it  has  hur- 
riedly surveyed,  may  here  and  there  find 
a  receptacle  in  which  some  portion  of  the 
sacred  element  may  be  retained,  upon 
which  the  spirit  may  slake  its  thirst  even 
amidst  the  bustle  of  the  street  or  the 
crowding  cares  of  the  workshop  or  the 
office.  At  all  events,  the  rest  of  the  Sab- 
bath will  give  to  every  Christian  an  oppor- 
tunity for  meditating  upon  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  proper  improvement  of  this  op- 
portunity will  in  all  probability  create  a 
habit  which  will  extend  such  meditation 
into  the  weekday  life. 

VIII. 

A  few  suggestions  as  to  the  method  of 
studying  the  Bible  may  be  added  to  this 
exposition  of  the  nature  of  the  process. 

First.    The  Bible  is  to  be  read  regularly 


70  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

as  a  whole.  The  most  obvious  way  for 
accomplishing  this  would  appear  to  be  to 
begin  at  the  beginning  and  read  it  con- 
tinuously through  to  the  end.  This  way 
is  very  commonly  pursued  by  religious 
people,  and  many  can  report  that  within 
a  lifetime  they  have  read  the  book  through 
an  almost  incredible  number  of  times. 
Such  a  way,  however,  seems  to  lose  sight 
of  the  principle  that  the  Bible  is  to  be  read, 
not  for  the  sake  of  the  reading  of  it,  but 
for  the  sake  of  the  uses  which  the  reading 
of  it  may  serve.  To  get  a  use  from  the 
reading  of  it,  it  will  be  found  advantageous 
to  divide  it  into  sections  and  read  success- 
ively a  portion  from  each.  A  convenient 
division  will  be  into:  (i)  The  historical 
writings  of  the  Old  Testament,  from  Gen- 
esis to  Job ;  (2)  The  poetical  writings  of 
the  same,  including  the  prophets  ;  (3)  The 
evangelical  writings,  composed  of  the  four 
Gospels  and  the  Acts  ;  (4)  The  didactic 
writings,  consisting  of  the  Epistles  and 
Revelation.  Each  reader,  however,  can 
make  the  division  accordinof  to  his  own 
view   of   expediency.     The   object  of   this 


THE  RULE   OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.  7 1 

recommendation  is  to  secure  such  a  variety 
in  the  instruction  obtained  from  the  Bible 
as  may  suit  the  varying  wants  of  the  soul. 
These  wants  can  hardly  be  provided  for 
from  day  to  day  by  the  contents  of  any 
single  one  of  the  inspired  books.  Would 
it  not  be  better  for  the  reader's  mind,  for 
instance,  after  having  been  studying  the 
structure  of  the  tabernacle  in  Exodus,  to 
turn  to  the  confessions  of  the  fifty-first 
psalm  or  to  the  touching  parables  of  Luke 

XV.  ? 

Secondly.  It  will  be  an  advantage  to  the 
reader  to  infor^n  himself  of  the  autho7^ship 
of  the  book  he  is  reading  and  of  the  circum- 
stances  of  the  age  and  country  to  which  it 
relates.  Such  letters  as  those  written  by 
St.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians  can  be  much 
better  understood  when  the  mind  carries 
along  with  the  reading  of  them  a  clear 
conception  of  the  social  condition  of  the 
people  to  whom  they  were  addressed. 
Such  information  can  easily  be  obtained 
from  the  expository  works  which  are  now 
so  numerous. 

Thirdly.  The  Bible  is  the  best  interpreter  of 


72  FOLLOWING    CLLRIST. 

itself.  It  Is  an  exceedingly  useful  practice 
to  compare,  by  the  aid  of  "  marginal  refer- 
ences," one  passage  with  another.  Such 
comparisons  help  not  only  to  solve  par- 
ticular difficulties,  but  to  bring  out  in  an 
interesting  way  the  unity  of  Scripture.  If 
the  truth  at  one  point  seems  to  be  locked 
up  in  obscurity,  the  key  to  it  may  be  found 
at  another  point,  showing  that  the  same 
Spirit  is  the  author  of  both. 

Fourthly.  The  language  of  the  Bible  in 
important  texts  should  be  committed  to  mem- 
ory. Language  is  the  channel  through 
which  thought  and  emotion  flow,  and  a 
good  channel  facilitates  the  flow  of  thought 
and  emotion.  Scripture  phrases  coming 
readily  to  the  mind  are  thus  aids  to  de- 
votion. They  furnish  the  wheels  upon 
which  the  soul  moves  most  comfortably 
and  safely  in  prayer. 

Fifthly.  It  is  well  frequently  to  arrest  the 
mind  at  certain  points  and  compel  it  to  i^efiect 
that  it  is  dealing  not  merely  with  a  book,  but 
with  facts  ;  not  merely  with  poetic  conceits 
or  abst7^act  propositions,  but  zvith  living 
truths.      Let  the   thought    often    challenge 


THE   RULE    OF  RELIGIOUS  LIVING.         73 

the  attention  of  the  reader :  "  The  Jehovah 
who  spake  to  Moses  is  the  God  who  still 
speaks  to  me ;"  "  The  Jesus  who  conversed 
with  Nicodemus  is  still  uttering  the  same 
doctrine  to  me."  Such  a  habit  will  serve 
to  bring  home  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
to  the  reader  personally. 

Sixthly.  //  is  an  adventitious,  hit  not  an 
improper,  aid  in  studying  the  Bible  to  invest 
particular  parts  and  passages  of  it  with 
associations  which  are  precious  to  the  reader » 
By  this  process  human  history  becomes  in- 
terwoven with  the  word  of  God,  and  the 
sacred  volume  becomes  dearer  to  us  be- 
cause enshrined  in  sacred  recollections  and 
experiences :  "  This  book  or  this  chapter 
brings  back  the  image  of  a  sainted  parent 
whose  tongue  was  wont  to  recite  it  with 
rapturous  tones  in  my  youthful  ears  ;"  "This 
verse  contains  the  sunbeam  which  led  a 
distinguished  reformer  or  evangelist  out 
of  darkness  into  light ;"  "  This  fragment 
of  a  psalm  became  a  song  of  triumph  on 
a  martyr's  lips ;"  "  This  gracious  promise 
brought  the  balm  of  consolation  to  my 
heart  long  years  ago  when   crushed  with 


74  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

the  weight  of  some  great  sorrow ;"  "  This 
petition  is  perfumed  with  the  memory  of 
some  pious  friend  whose  panting  after  God 
it  expressed;"  ''This  vision  of  the  heaven- 
ly city  revealed  its  opened  gates  and  shin- 
ing streets  to  the  eye  of  some  sufferer 
amidst  the  agonies  of  a  dying-bed."  It  is 
wonderful  how  many  things  in  the  life  of 
an  individual  may  thus  link  themselves  to 
the  holy  book,  and  may  throw  around  it 
the  drapery  of  sweet  and  tender  thoughts 
and  feelings.  Thus  it  may  be  made  what 
no  other  book  can  be — a  personal  friend, 
a  sharer  in  our  private  joys  and  sorrows, 
a  kinsman  dividing  with  us  the  secret  life 
of  the  soul.  Such  associations,  like  a 
chime  of  holy  earth-born  melodies  blend- 
ing with  the  voice  of  God,  deserve  to  be 
cherished,  as  they  both  add  to  the  attract- 
iveness and  enhance  the  efficiency  of  the 
Bible. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

OBSERVANCE    OF  PUBLIC    WORSHIP. 

CHRIST  was  so  conspicuously  a  wor- 
shiper of  God  and  an  attendant  upon 
public  worship  that  no  one  can  be  a  fol- 
lower of  him  without  imitating  him  in  this 
respect.  Besides  his  example,  he  has  given 
his  disciples  a  form  of  prayer,  and  a  form 
which  seems  to  imply  that  they  will  wor- 
ship in  companies.  Indeed,  it  may  be 
asked  how  any  one  can  believe  that  the 
Lord  is  "  great  and  greatly  to  be  praised," 
as  every  believer  in  Christ  must,  without 
being  moved  in  some  outspoken  way  to 
magnify  and  praise  him. 

The  mere  act  and  the  mere  word  of 
worship  are,  we  know,  of  no  value  in  his 
sight.  Without  the  spirit  and  the  under- 
standing, our  oblations  are  vain  and  our 
incense  is  an  abomination  unto  him  (Isa.  i. 

76 


76  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

13).  But  the  fact  that  the  offering  of 
formal  worship  without  the  participation 
of  the  soul  is  an  offence  to  God  does  not 
prove  that  formal  worship  in  which  the 
soul  does  participate  is  not  acceptable  to 
God  and  may  be  required  by  him. 

The  proper  definition  of  the  word  "  wor- 
ship" is  "the  acknowledgment  by  one  party 
of  the  worth  of  another."  The  worship  of 
the  Almighty  is  the  acknowledgment  by 
man  of  God's  infinite  worth.  Worth  is 
entitled  to  recognition  wherever  it  is  found. 
Not  to  recognize  it  is  evidence,  in  any  party, 
of  moral  blindness  or  obliquity,  and  is  an 
exhibition  of  injustice  which  is  positively 
criminal.  The  duty  of  worshiping  God  is 
only  the  active  phase  of  the  duty  of  be- 
lieving in  God. 

Hear  how  the  Scriptures  speak  of  him : 
"  O  Lord  our  Lord,  how  excellent  is  thy 
name  in  all  the  earth  "  (Ps.  viii.  11);"  Worthy 
is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  to  receive  power 
and  riches  and  wisdom  and  strength  and 
honor  and  glory  and  blessing,"  is  said  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  (Rev.  v.  12). 

Excellence  and    worth    so    transcendant 


OBSERVANCE    OF  PUBLIC  WORSHIP.  7/ 

are  entitled  to  receive  proper  acknowledg- 
ment at  the  hands  of  men.  How  can  a 
man  be  a  religious  man  without  acknowl- 
edging  them  ?  The  only  question  that 
can  possibly  be  entertained  is,  "  How  are 
such  excellence  and  such  worth  to  be  ac- 
knowledged ?" 

The  answer  to  this  question  is,  first,  by 
an  intelligent  apprehension  of  them  and 
a  complacent  appreciation  of  them  by  the 
soul.  The  organ  of  acknowledgment  must 
undoubtedly  be  an  enlightened  and  approv- 
ing soul.  But  the  utterance  in  some  formal 
way  of  what  the  soul  believes  and  feels  is 
always  a  natural  exercise,  and  is — ordina- 
rily, at  least — a  condition  necessary  to  dis- 
tinctness of  belief  and  vividness  of  feelingr. 
Hence,  to  this  first  answer  a  second  is  to 
be  joined :  God's  excellence  and  worth  are 
to  be  acknowledged  in  every  formal  way 
in  which  the  soul  can  express  its  belief  in 
and  its  feeling  toward  them.  The  act,  the 
word,  the  sensible  demonstration,  consti- 
tuted as  man  now  is,  are  co-ordinate  factors 
with  the  thought  and  the  emotion,  and  help, 
with  the  latter,  to  call  out  and  to  call  forth 


78  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

the  life  of  the  soul.  Man  is  not  yet  capable 
of  living  as  a  pure  spirit,  and  needs  the  aid 
of  formal  expression  to  keep  up  his  sense 
of  God's  excellence  and  worth.  So  long 
as  the  expression  serves  this  purpose  — 
really  serves  it,  and  serves  no  other  pur- 
pose— it  is  a  valuable  help,  not  to  say  a 
necessary  one,  to  spiritual  life.  Public 
worship  is  such  an  expression,  or,  rather,  a 
combination  of  such  expressions.  Proper- 
ly conducted,  it  is  a  celebration  of  God's 
excellence  and  worth.  It  is  enjoined,  not 
because  God  needs  the  praise  of  man,  but 
because  it  is  due  from  man,  becoming  in 
man  and  profitable  to  man. 

So  far  as  appears  from  Scripture,  God 
has  always  been  worshiped  by  formal  rites. 
These  rites  are  the  monuments  by  which 
he  asserts  his  claim  to  faith  and  reverence 
and  honor  in  the  eyes  of  an  apostate  world. 
They  are  the  testimony  in  behalf  of  relig- 
ion which  he  causes  to  be  proclaimed  in  the 
ears  of  the  unbelieving  generations  of  men. 
For  a  Christian  to  disown  his  obligation  to 
attend  upon  the  public  worship  of  God  is 
to  discredit  these  monuments  and  to  con- 


OBSERVANCE    OF  PUBLIC  IVORSHIP.         79 

tradict  this  testimony.  To  say  that  he  does 
not  need  the  influence  of  it  himself  is  to 
betray  an  ignorance  of  the  wants  of  his 
own  soul ;  to  say  that  the  world  does  not 
need  it  is  to  exhibit  an  indifference  to  the 
wants  of  his  race.  Such  incongruities  will 
be  shunned  by  every  honest  follower  of 
Christ.  As  the  Son  of  God,  during  his 
human  life,  kept  the  holy  days  and  fre- 
quented the  synagogue  and  the  temple 
as  a  faithful  Israelite,  no  man  claiming  to 
be  his  disciple  can  conscientiously  fail  to 
keep  the  Christian  Sabbath  and  frequent 
the  place  where  God  is  worshiped  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  .the  New  Testament. 

I. 

The  observance  of  public  worship  ought 
to  be  classed  by  the  young  Christian  among 
those  moral  duties  which  he  has  engaged 
to  perform.  It  rests  upon  an  ordinance 
of  God  as  distinctly  as  do  the  commands 
which  require  him  to  be  honest  and  charita- 
ble in  his  dealings  with  his  neighbor.  It  is 
a  part  of  the  peculiar  work  which  is  given 
him  as  a  professor  of  religion  to  do.     It  is 


8o  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

not  something  left  to  the  taste  or  the  fancy 
or  the  convenience  of  the  individual ;  it  is 
what  the  Lord  expects  from  every  one  of 
his  servants.  He  evidently  requires  his 
worship  to  be  maintained  in  the  world : 
"  Ye  shall  keep  my  Sabbaths,  and  rever- 
ence my  sanctuary:  I  am  the  Lord"  (Lev. 
xxvi.  2). 

Now,  by  whom  is  this  to  be  done  ?  "  By 
the  church,"  it  may  be  answered ;  yet  what 
is  the  church  but  the  aggregate  of  the  liv- 
ing men  and  women  in  any  generation  or 
community?  Let  these  living  men  and 
women  neglect  the  worship  of  God,  and 
where  is  the  church  which  will  keep  it  up  ? 
The  church  is  realized  in  each  one  of  these 
men  and  women,  and  the  obligations  of  the 
church  rest  upon  each  one  of  them.  The 
divine  ordinance  which  calls  for  a  worship- 
ing church  is  simply  a  call  to  each  church- 
member  to  be  a  worshiper.  Let  the 
church-member  remember  this,  and  from 
the  moment  of  his  entering  the  church 
let  him  place  this  duty  foremost  among 
those  forms  of  business  to  which  his  life 
is  to  be  devoted. 


OBSERVAXCE    OF  PUBLIC  WORSHIP  8  I 

I  use  the  term  "business"  in  this  con- 
nection because  I  have  observed  that  what 
is  technically  called  "business"  is  the  most 
frequent  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  perform- 
ance of  this  duty  of  public  worship.  The 
excuse  which  in  his  own  view  most  effect- 
ually justifies  a  man  in  neglecting-  this  duty 
is  that  his  "business"  forbids  it.  He  would 
be  ashamed  to  say  that  his  pleasure  or  his 
indolence  forbade  it,  but  "business"  has 
something  respectable — almost  sacred — in 
it ;  for  is  not  he  who  provides  not  for  his 
own  said  to  be  worse  than  an  infidel?  (i 
Tim.  V.  8.) 

The  mistake  here  is  in  making  a  distinc- 
tion between  business  and  the  worship  of 
God.  The  Christian's  business  compre- 
hends the  doing  of  all  his  heavenly  Father's 
will,  and  it  is  as  much  his  heavenly  Father's 
will  that  his  worship  should  be  observed  by 
his  people  as  that  their  families  should  be 
supported  by  diligence  in  their  secular  call- 
ings. If  any  distinction  is  to  be  made  be- 
tween the  two,  the  former  should  take  pre- 
cedence of  the  latter ;  the  business  which 
concerns  God  should  claim  attention  before 


82  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

that  which  concerns  man.  The  Saviour 
directed  an  unsparing  rebuke  at  this  dis- 
position to  place  devotion  to  worldly  busi- 
ness over  religious  duty  when  he  said  to 
the  rich  young  man  (Matt.  xix.  21),  "Go 
sell  that  thou  hast,  and  come  and  follow 
me."  Worldly  business  must  retire  when 
religious  business  presents  its  claims.  The 
man  too  busy  at  his  counter  or  in  his  office 
or  his  workshop  to  attend  upon  the  worship 
of  God  is  in  the  most  notorious  sense  a 
neglecter  of  his  business  as  a  Christian. 

The  same  is  true  of  the.  man  who  ex- 
cuses himself  from  attendance  upon  Sab- 
bath worship  on  the  ground  that  on  the 
Sabbath  his  overtaxed  mind  and  his  weary 
body  are  unfit  to  participate  in  its  services. 
Has  he  a  right  so  to  disqualify  himself  for 
God's  business,  by  overtaxing  his  mind 
and  by  wearying  his  body  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  own  calling?  There  is  a  use 
of  "the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,"  the 
Saviour  teaches  (Luke  xvi.  9),  which  can 
make  "friends"  to  the  believer  or  helpers 
in  securing  admittance  for  him  to  "  ever- 
lasting   habitations,"    but    surely  it    cannot 


OBSERVANCE   OF  PUBLIC  WORSHIP.         83 

be  such  a  use  as  robs  God  of  the  service 
due  to  him.  Oh,  let  the  follower  of  Christ 
be  warned  of  this  device  of  Satan,  and  let 
him  see  to  it  that  in  his  devotion  to  his 
worldly  business  he  does  not  become  a 
defaulter  to  his  Master.  His  success  in 
his  religious  life  will  largely  depend  upon 
his  fidelity  in  this  particular. 

The  ordinary  occupations  of  life  create 
a  perpetual  drain  upon  spiritual  strength. 
Worship — public  worship— is  needed  to  re- 
pair the  waste.  Not  only  the  Sabbath  ser- 
vices, but  the  lecture  and  the  prayer-meet- 
ing of  the  week,  are  needed  for  this  pur- 
pose. These  religious  episodes  are  tonics 
to  the  soul.  They  meet  the  Christian  in 
the  midst  of  his  working-days  with  solaces 
as  timely  and  as  refreshing  as  those  which 
the  Israelites  found  in  the  wells  and  the 
palm  trees  of  Elim :  "They  that  wait  upon 
the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength  "  (Isa. 
xl.  21).  The  habit  of  attending  upon  pub- 
lic worship,  once  formed,  will  cause  the 
difficulties  which  obstruct  it  to  vanish,  and 
will  make  an  abundant  compensation  for 
all  the  effort  it  costs,  both  in  the  relief  it 


84  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

will  give  to  the  sense  of  duty  and  In  the 
supply  it  will  furnish  to  the  needs  of  the 
soul. 

II. 

The  worshiping  of  God  is  so  serious  a 
business  that  it  calls  for  forethougrht  and 
preparation. 

The  disposition  to  engage  in  it  as  a 
mere  matter  of  routine  or  custom,  without 
a  conscious  impression  of  its  meaning,  may 
easily  arise  from  the  fact  that  the  mind  is 
so  often  called  to  the  performance  of  the 
duty.  Week  after  week,  Sabbath  after 
Sabbath,  throughout  the  year,  at  a  regular 
hour,  the  worshiper  is  summoned  to  the 
house  of  God.  That  each  occasion  should 
present  itself  with  a  fresh  interest  and 
should  stir  the  heart  with  a  felt  attractive- 
ness, it  is  necessary  that  the  attention  should 
be  directed  to  the  work  in  hand  and  that  the 
soul  should  be  strung,  by  a  process  of  re- 
flection, with  well-tuned  chords.  Levity  of 
mind  is,  of  course,  at  open  variance  with 
the  idea  of  worship ;  vacancy  of  mind  is 
hardly  less  so.  With  good  reason,  there- 
fore, the  counsel  was  given  by  them  of  old 


OBSERVANCE  OF  PUBLIC  WORSHIP.  85 

time  :  "  Be  not  rash  with  thy  mouth,  and  let 
not  thine  heart  be  hasty  to  utter  anything 
before  God"  (Eccl.  v.  21).  What  is  said 
and  what  is  done  in  worship  ought  to  be 
said  and  done  with  deHberation,  in  a  re- 
Hgious  spirit  and  with  a  rehgious  intent. 
As  no  man  rationally  enters  upon  a  grave 
enterprise  without  contemplating  the  nature 
of  it  and  the  mental  conditions  it  requires 
in  the  party  engaging  in  it,  so  the  Christian 
should  seriously  strive  to  put  himself  in 
frame  for  such  an  act  as  the  worship  of 
God.  He  should  never  precipitate  him- 
self into  it  in  a  rash  or  hasty  manner. 

Very  obviously,  in  this  endeavor  after 
self-preparation,  he  should  by  prayer  in- 
voke those  gracious  inspirations  which 
come  from-  Him  with  whom  are  "  the  prep- 
aration of  the  heart,  and  the  answer  of 
the  tongue"  (Prov.  xvi.  i).  No  truly  de- 
vout man  will  fail  to  take  account  of  his 
own  infirmities  when  he  proposes  to  ap- 
proach God  in  worship.  The  promised 
aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit  will  never  seem 
more  seasonable  than  then,  and  they  will 
be  definitely  sought  by  prayer. 


86  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  amiss 
to  say  that  in  churches  where  Hturgies 
are  not  used  in  pubHc  worship  there  is  a 
special  call  for  effort  and  culture  on  the 
part  of  the  individual  engaging  in  the 
work.  While  it  is  the  task  of  the  minister 
to  direct  the  current  of  devotion,  it  is  the 
task  of  the  hearer,  in  order  to  be  a  wor- 
shiper, to  throw  his  mind  into  that  current. 
This  requires  closeness  of  attention  and 
control  of  thought.  The  invitation,  "Let 
us  pray,"  should  be  responded  to  by  each 
worshiper  with  the  determination  to  make 
the  prayer  about  to  be  uttered  his  own. 
In  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  it  is  un- 
doubtedly an  aid  to  the  object  in  view  for 
the  hearer  to  have  his  own  Bible  at  hand 
and  to  follow  the  officiating  minister. 

The  service  of  psalmody  is  emphatically 
the  service  of  the  people.  It  is  the  duty 
of  every  church-member  as  far  as  possible 
to  take  part  in  it.  The  objection  of  inabil- 
ity, so  often  raised,  only  lays  the  ground 
for  another  remark — viz.,  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  every  church-member  to  make  it  a  study 
to  be  able  to  take  part  in  it.     It  belongs  to 


OBSERVANCE    OF  PUBLIC    WORSHIP.        8/ 

his  business  as  a  Christian  man  to  educate 
himself  for  this  work,  and,  if  he  be  a  parent, 
to  educate  his  children  for  it.  It  is  a  per- 
version of  this  divine  ordinance  when  the 
congregation  delegates  the  execution  of  it 
to  a  choir,  and,  instead  of  singing  praise 
to  God,  expect  to  be  sung  to  themselves. 
Rightly  considered,  there  is  as  much  rea- 
son for  the  petition,  "  Lord,  teach  us  to 
sing,"  as  there  is  for  the  petition,  ''  Lord, 
teach  us  to  pray  ;"  for  singing  is  essentially 
the  same  act  as  praying.  There  is  room 
for  the  question  whether  the  absence  of 
spiritual  power  which  is  so  frequently  de- 
plored in  our  churches  is  not  due  to  the 
failure  of  Christian  people  to  do  their  duty 
in  this  branch  of  worship.  Certainly,  a 
company  of  professed  w^orshipers  indo- 
lently sitting  in  their  pews  to  be  enter- 
tained by  a  musical  performance  are  more 
likely  to  repel  than  to  invite  the  offices  of 
the  divine  Inspirer. 

III. 
The  spirit  of  worship  should  be  as  dis- 
tinctly carried  into  the  hearing  of  the  word 


8S  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

preached  as  into  the  purely  devotional 
parts  of  the  service. 

It  is  a  mistake,  and  a  hurtful  one,  to  sup- 
pose that  in  listening  to  the  sermon  we 
have  ceased  to  maintain  communion  with 
God.  It  is  he  who  has  then  become  the 
party  speaking,  and  it  may  be  that  in  the 
utterances  then  and  there  addressed  to  us 
he  may  make  a  response  to  the  very  aspi- 
rations which  have  ascended  to  him  in  our 
praises  and  prayers. 

The  distinction  which  is  sometimes  made 
between  the  formally  devotional  service 
and  the  sermon  in  public  worship,  and  the 
tone  of  depreciation  with  which  the  latter 
is,  in  certain  quarters,  spoken  of,  are  the 
offspring  of  ignorance.  The  teaching  of 
the  law  of  the  Lord  seems  always  to  have 
been  closely  associated  with  the  worship 
of  God,  and  the  reason  for  the  connection 
is  founded  In  the  nature  of  religion.  Wor- 
ship, to  be  a  religious  act,  must  be  the  ex- 
pression of  right  views,  convictions  and  feel- 
ings In  regard  to  God  ;  without  these  it  is 
an  empty  and  a  worthless  ceremony.  These 
It  Is  the  office  of  preaching  to  supply  and 


OBSERVANCE    OF  PUBLIC  WORSHIP.         89 

to  cultivate.  Instruction  in  the  things  of 
God  is  the  natural  purveyor  of  the  material 
required  for  devotion,  and  in  its  work  goes 
hand  in  hand  with  literal  worship.  And, 
conversely,  it  may  be  said  that  preaching 
needs  the  aid  of  worship.  Without  it  the 
instructions  of  the  pulpit  may  enrich  the 
intelligence  without  exciting  the  spiritual 
affections  ;  with  it  they  plant  themselves  in 
the  soul  as  quickened  forms  of  faith,  and 
become  real  and  vital  forces  through  the 
medium  of  speech  and  emotion.  The  work 
of  the  minister,  therefore,  wisely  compre- 
hends both  functions — that  of  directing  the 
devotions  of  the  people,  and  that  of  preach- 
ing to  them  the  word  of  God. 

The  hearing  of  the  word  preached  is  to 
be  attended  to  with  substantially  the  same 
frame  of  mind  as  that  with  which  direct 
worship  is  to  be  performed.  The  object 
of  the  preacher,  if  he  understands  his  call- 
ing, is  to  report  and  to  give  effect  to  the 
truth  which  God  has  revealed;  the  duty  of 
the  hearer  is  to  get,  through  the  preacher, 
a  better  knowledge  and  a  clearer  impres- 
sion  of  this   truth.      The  thing  which  the 


90  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

preacher  has  to  do  is  to  deHver  a  message 
from  God  ;  the  business  of  the  hearer  is 
to  look  for  it,  appropriate  it  and  carry  it 
away  with  him.  In  order  to  this,  the  coun- 
sels given  in  a  previous  chapter  in  regard 
to  the  study  of  the  Bible  may  profitably  be 
followed. 

In  addition,  I  would  offer  the  following 
suggestions : 

First.  The  worshiper  should  examine 
himself  before  going  to  the  house  of  God 
as  to  his  motive  and  purpose,  and  should 
endeavor  to  make  it  his  definite  errand  to 
honor  God  and  to  obtain  religious  instruc- 
tion. This  process  is  an  easy  one,  within 
the  power  of  everybody,  and  is  necessary 
in  order  to  make  '*  eoincr  to  church "  a 
rational  act. 

Second,  The  ear  and  the  heart  should 
be  prepared  by  prayer  for  the  parts  they 
are  to  take  in  the  service. 

Third.  Peculiarities  in  the  preacher,  fa- 
vorable or  unfavorable,  should  not  be  suf- 
fered to  divert  the  mind  from  the  appre- 
ciation of  the  truth  presented.  A  genuine 
appetite   will   relish  food   even   when   con- 


OBSERVANCE    OF  PUBLIC  WORSHIP.         9 1 

veyed  in  a  homely  vessel,  and  will  never 
miss  the  food  through  admiration  of  an 
attractive  vessel. 

Fourth.  After  the  hearing  of  the  sermon 
the  mind  should  be  questioned  as  to  the 
profit  gained  by  a  review  of  its  contents 
and  by  meditation  upon  them. 

Fifth.  The  impression  of  the  word  preach- 
ed should  be  fixed  and  deepened  by  con- 
versation upon  it  with  other  serious  per- 
sons. 

Sixth.  Prayer  for  the  quickening  influ- 
ences of  the  Holy  Spirit  should  be  offered 
up,  that  the  seed  sown  may  take  root  in 
the  hearer's  heart  and  bring  forth  appro- 
priate fruit. 

By  efforts  like  these  the  preaching  of 
the  word  may  be  expected  to  become  what 
it  was  designed  to  be — a  means  of  edifica- 
tion, a  source  of  sanctifying  grace  and  an 
invaluable  help  to  the  Christian  seeking 
to  understand  the  will  and  to  acquire  the 
mind  of  his  Master.  The  faithful  hearing 
of  God's  word  is  enough  like  prayer  to 
be  entitled  to  a  share  in  all  the  promises 
made  to  prayer,  and  the  man  who  goes  to 


92  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

it,  as  he  goes  to  his  knees,  asking  from 
God  the  bread  of  life,  may  be  sure  he  will 
never  be  sent  away  empty. 

"  What  man  is  there  of  you,  whom  if  his 
son  ask  bread,  will  he  give  him  a  stone  ?" 
(Matt.  vii.  9.) 


CHAPTER   V. 

PRIVATE   PRAYER. 

THE  professor  of  religion  who  does 
not  pray  in  private  is  no  more  the 
being  which  that  title  describes  than  is  the 
infant,  who  has  never  breathed,  a  living 
child.  It  is  impossible  to  know  God,  to 
believe  in  him  and  to  love  him,  without 
holding  intercourse  with  him  by  definite 
and  intelligent  acts  of  the  soul. 

The  arguments  by  which  the  reasonable- 
ness and  the  utility  of  prayer  to  God  are 
demonstrated  are  numerous  and  sufficient 
to  satisfy  any  ingenuous  mind.  But  the 
necessity  for  argument  is  superseded  here 
by  the  fact  that  man  is  constrained  to  pray 
by  the  moral  constitution  which  naturally 
belongs  to  him.  Language  of  entreaty  or 
deprecation  oftentimes  instinctively  bursts 
from  the  lips  of  those  who  have  denied 
the  being  of  a  God  and  have  been  wont 


94  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

to  laugh  at  the  folly  of  those  who  prayed 
to  him. 

Indeed,  so  potent  is  the  law  by  which 
men  are  impelled  to  pray  that  under  its 
conscious  pressure  they  are  liable  to  be 
carried  into  excesses  in  their  practice  of 
the  duty.  Their  need  of  prayer  is  felt 
at  so  many  points  that  it  seeks  to  relieve 
itself  by  multiplying  objects  to  which  prayer 
can  be  addressed.  Hence,  the  heathen  have 
invented  as  many  divinities  as  there  are 
departments  of  nature  and  life  with  which 
their  well-beinof  is  connected.  Not  satis- 
fied  with  the  idea  of  one  god — the  all- 
sufficient  object  upon  which  a  rational  faith 
is  content  to  rest — they  have  amplified  that 
idea  until  it  includes  as  many  gods  as  a 
superstitious  fancy  is  pleased  to  invent. 

In  the  same  way,  the  Romish  Church, 
with  that  consummate  sagacity  which  it 
has  displayed  in  using  every  avenue  by 
which  the  hearts  of  men  may  be  reached 
and  controlled,  has  taken  advantage  of 
this  natural  disposition  to  pray,  and  has 
fed  and  stimulated  it  by  encouraging  its 
members  to  address  their  devotions  to  the 


PRIVATE   PRAYER,  95 

saints,  to  the  angels  and  to  the  Virgin 
Mary.  The  readiness  with  which  these 
false  modes  of  prayer  gain  circulation 
proves  that  there  is  a  genuine  thing  of 
which  these  are  counterfeits,  and  that  in 
man's  nature  there  is  a  foundation  laid  for 
the  use  of  that  thing. 

The  religious  man  will  be  prompted  to 
pray,y^r^/,  because  of  a  propensity  belong- 
ing to  him  as  a  man  ;  and  second,  because 
this  propensity  has  had  a  new  incitement 
and  a  new  direction  given  to  it  by  the  new 
spiritual  life  which  has  been  imparted  to 
him.  The  very  impulses  of  his  mind  and 
heart  in  reference  to  God  will  take  on  the 
form  of  prayer ;  so  that  there  is  literal 
truth  in  the  familiar  line, 

"  Prayer  is  the  Christian's  vital  breath," 

And  as  every  affection  residing  in  the 
soul  is  strengthened  by  expression  and 
nourishes  itself,  as  it  were,  by  the  terms 
it  uses  in  orivine  itself  utterance,  so  the 
religious  affections  need  the  channel  of 
articulate  prayer  to  keep  themselves  vig- 
orous and  fresh  in  the  believer's  soul.     A 


96  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

decline  in  spiritual  life  will  follow  a  neglect 
of  prayer  just  as  certainly  as  a  plant  de- 
cays when  the  necessary  moisture  is  with- 
drawn from  its  roots. 

Still  further,  the  connection  which  the 
Scriptures  establish  between  prayer  and 
the  positive  blessing  of  God  makes  the 
practice  of  it  a  necessity  for  the  Christian 
coextensive  with  his  wants.  Religious  liv- 
ing is  a  life  of  entire  dependence  upon 
God.  That  he  is  an  independent  agent 
is  one  of  the  illusions  under  which  the 
natural  man  lives.  He  is  flattered  and 
deceived  by  the  thought  that  he  is  equal 
to  his  needs  and  capable  of  being  the 
conservator  and  the  architect  of  his  own 
happiness.  It  is  the  characteristic  of  the 
spiritual  man  to  find — and  to  delight  to 
find — all  his  sufficiency  in  God.  There 
is  such  a  connection  between  his  daily 
bread,  for  instance,  and  the  providence 
of  God  that  in  his  toiling  for  it  he  sees 
the  propriety  of  asking  God  to  give  it ; 
and  when  he  has  gained  it  by  his  toiling, 
he  still  feels  bound  to  give  God  thanks 
for  it. 


PKIVAJK    PRAYER.  9/ 

Men's  needs  at  all  times  run  in  advance 
of  their  own  resources  or  carry  them  be- 
yond their  depth,  and  so  prompt  them  to 
call  for  help  outside  of  and  above  them- 
selves. The  godless  man  resists  this 
prompting ;  the  religious  man  gladly  as- 
sents to  it,  and  sees  among  the  conditions 
of  success  in  all  his  undertakings  such  a 
concurrent  working  of  God  as  presents 
a  definite  thing  to  be  prayed  for.  The 
convictions  which  characterize  him  as  a 
Christian  will  make  him  a  man  of  prayer. 
Christ  was  pre-eminently  this,  and  those 
who  follow  him  must  be  like  him  in  this 
respect.  It  is  so  necessary  that  the  young 
church-member  should  pray,  and  that  his 
praying  should  be  an  exercise  of  the  heart, 
that  I  w^ould  enjoin  upon  him  the  following 
counsels. 

I. 

Let  it  be  yourself  ivJio  pi^ays. 

By  this  I  mean  let  prayer  be  the  genuine 
expression  of  what  you  feel  and  desire  ;  let 
your  soul  be  in  it.  Words,  when  the  soul 
is  in  them,  are  the  outoroinas  of  the  man 
himself;  where  it  is  not   in   them,  they  are 


98  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

but  sound — a  mechanical  result  which  a 
rtute  could  produce.  You  and  the  want 
you  bring  to  God  must  be  one.  It  was 
so  with  the  prodigal  son ;  the  shame  and 
the  wretchedness  under  which  he  was  per- 
ishing exactly  reported  themselves  in  the 
words  he  addressed  to  his  father.  It  was 
so  with  the  Syrophoenician  woman  ;  her 
daughter's  suffering  was  a  source  of  an 
agony  to  her  own  heart,  and  all  the  ap- 
parent repulses  of  the  Saviour  could  not 
check  the  cry,  "  Lord,  help  me." 

In  any  extreme  position  of  danger  or 
distress  It  Is  easy  to  see  that  the  whole 
man  is  In  the  desire  for  relief  and  will  be 
equally  in  the  prayer  that  asks  for  It.  It 
is  this  presence  of  self  In  your  prayers 
which  makes  them  prayers.  If  they  are 
not  yours,  they  are  not  prayers  at  all. 
The  repeating  of  the  best  form  in  the 
world,  where  it  is  not  inspirited  by  your 
own  soul,  is  not  praying.  Merely  to  ''say 
your  prayers"  Is  to  utter  ''sayings,"  not 
prayers. 

On  this  account  it  Is  well,  before  engag- 
ing in   the   act  of   prayer,   to  pause  for  a 


PRIVATE   PRAYER.  99 

moment  to  interrogate  the  mind  as  to  the 
objects  it  is  about  to  present  to  God,  and 
as  to  the  sincerity  of  the  desires  it  professes 
to  entertain  for  them. 

It  is  well,  further,  to  learn  to  express 
your  prayers  in  words  of  your  own. 

This  need  not  be  a  difficult  task.  Ordi- 
narily, you  do  not  depend  upon  others  to 
give  you  the  phrases  in  which  you  express 
your  thoughts  and  your  feelings.  Indeed, 
such  is  the  law  of  the  mind  that  in  the 
very  process  of  defining  a  thought  or  a 
feeling  to  itself  it  has  already  clothed  it 
in  words.  When  the  Saviour,  wearied 
with  his  journey,  sat  by  the  well  at  Sychar, 
he  said  to  the  woman  who  came  to  draw 
water,  "  Give  me  to  drink."  Any  one  suf- 
fering in  the  same  way  could,  and  would, 
have  said  the  same.  A  definite  wish  is 
easily  put  into  language ;  study  is  not 
needed  and  art  would  be  out  of  place 
in  the  articulatino-  of  it.  'T  thirst"  is  the 
feeling  of  which  consciousness  takes  no- 
tice in  a  case  like  that  of  our  Lord's ;  "Give 
me  to  drink "  is  the  form  of  that  feeling 
expressing  itself  to  another  in  prayer.    The 


lOO  FOLLOWING    CIIRIS7\ 

"  I  "  of  the  feeling  reappears  in  the  "  me  " 
of  the  prayer. 

The  subject  of  a  feehng  can  best  express 
that  feehng.  The  simphcity  with  which  it 
is  expressed  is  no  fault.  The  style  of  a 
prayer  is  a  matter  of  secondary  import- 
ance. For  the  construction  of  a  prayer 
the  soul  wants  no  rule  but  the  rule  of 
truthfulness ;  and  the  more  plain  and 
direct  the  form  of  it  may  be,  the  more  it 
may  correspond  with  this  rule.  No  one 
man  can  so  completely  represent  another, 
and  so  anticipate  all  his  experiences,  as  to 
be  able  beforehand  to  prepare  a  set  of 
prayers  which  shall  cover  all  the  circum- 
stances and  meet  all  the  needs  of  the  latter. 
In  using  the  prayer  of  another  there  would 
seem  to  be  more  likelihood  that  the  self 
which  must  be  the  speaker  should  be 
absent  than  when  the  speaker  is  using 
his  own  words. 

Forms,  however,  are  not  to  be  absolute- 
ly condemned;  they  may  often  be  employed 
with  advantage.  Especially,  the  Scripture 
phrases,  which  are  so  wonderfully  adapted 
to  the  conditions  of  the  human  soul,  give 


PRIVATE   PRAYER.  lOI 

US  an  invaluable  aid  in  moulding  into  prayer 
the  desires  of  the  heart.  Only  let  it  be 
always  borne  in  mind  that  another  man's 
prayer  can  become  yours  simply  by  throw- 
ing yourself  into  it.  The  dialect  of  prayer 
is  the  dialect  of  nature.  Above  all  things 
seek  to  be  natural — that  is,  simple  and 
truthful — in  your  prayers  ;  and  to  this  end 
first  define  your  desires  to  your  own  mind, 
and  then  tell  them  to  God  in  just  the  form 
in  which  you  have  defined  them  to  your 
own  mind. 

II. 

In  your  pi^aying  pray  to  God. 

When  a  man  speaks,  he  must  have  a  per- 
son before  him  ;  for  speech  is  the  commu- 
nication of  thought,  and  communication  re- 
quires a  receiver  as  well  as  a  giver.  Prayer 
to  God  implies  that  he  is  the  Hearer  of 
what  is  spoken — not  merely  in  the  sense 
in  which  he  must  hear  everything  as  an 
omniscient  being,  but  in  the  sense  of  a  be- 
ing made  consciously  present  and  inten- 
tionally addressed  by  the  mind  of  the 
speaker.  It  is  quite  possible  that  prayer, 
so   called,  should  not  be  made  to  God  at 


I02  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

all — that  is,  it  is  quite  possible  that  men 
should  professedly  pray  where  God's  pres- 
ence is  not  discerned  by  their  minds,  and 
where  the  words  spoken  are  not  directed 
to  him  personally.  They  may  bend  the 
knee  and  then  occupy  themselves  with  self- 
communings,  with  a  sort  of  pious  soliloquy 
or  reverie,  and  fancy  they  are  praying. 
They  are  really  here  thinking  aloud,  as  it 
were — a  process  in  which  the  mind  is  re- 
acting upon  itself  instead  of  transacting 
with  God.  So,  in  their  addresses  to  God, 
and  while  using  his  adorable  names  and 
titles,  they  may  only  be  addressing  an  ab- 
stract and  imaginary  object. 

It  is  a  natural  habit  of  the  mind  to  per- 
sonify its  own  conceptions.  Orators  and 
poets  avail  themselves  of  it  in  order  to 
give  vividness  to  what  they  are  remem- 
bering or  what  they  are  trying  to  realize. 
When   Cowper  wrote  those  tender  lines, 

<'  My  mother !   when  I  learned  that  thou  wast  dead, 
Say,  wast  thou  conscious  of  the  tears  I  shed  ? 
Hovered  thy  spirit  o'er  thy  sorrowing  son  ? 
Wretched  e'en  then,  life's  journey  just  begun?" 

he    was    simply    indulging    in    affectionate 


PRIVATE    PRAYER.  IO3 

reminiscences,  speaking  of  a  thing  of  the 
past,  not  speaking  to  a  thing  of  the  pres- 
ent. When  Milton,  in  his  "Paradise  Lost," 
utters  the  invocation,  "  Sing,  heavenly 
Muse  !"  he  was  not  speaking  to  a  person, 
but  attempting  to  rouse  the  energies  of 
his  own   soul  by  personifying  them. 

A  similar  illusion  may  be  practised  upon 
ourselves  in  praying  to  God.  Certain 
thoughts  about  God  may  be  thrown  into 
the  form  of  an  address  to  God,  but  thouohts 
about  God  are  not  prayer  to  God.  Prayer 
must  put  us  literally  in  the  position  of  one 
person  speaking  to  another  person. 

Of  course  this  cannot  be,  in  our  case,  a 
face-to-face  communion  with  God,  as  it  is 
said  to  have  been  in  the  case  of  Moses,  but 
it  is  a  spirit- to- spirit  communion.  And,  as 
there  is  no  appeal  to  the  senses  here,  it  is 
the  mind  itself  which  must  make  God  a  vis- 
ible person  ;  through  the  medium  of  faith 
it  must  see  "  Him  who  is  invisible."  Hence 
the  mind  must  be  put  in  a  position  to  see 
him  by  deliberate  forethought  and  by  a 
constant  fixing  of  the  eye  of  the  soul  upon 
God  during  prayer. 


I04  FOLLOIVJXG    CHRIST. 

Every  praying  person  is  familiar  with  the 
tendency  of  the  mind  to  wander  in  prayer, 
and  every  sincere  worshiper  deplores  this 
and  feels  it  to  be  sin.  The  explanation  of 
this  experience  is  that  for  the  time  the  per- 
son has  ceased  to  see  God  and  to  speak  to 
God,  and  so  has  ceased  to  pray. 

Let  the  Christian  who  is  in  earnest  euard 
against  putting  this  similitude  of  prayer  in 
the  place  of  the  real  thing.  There  is  no 
prayer  which  is  not  the  converse  of  the 
soul  with  God  —  no  prayer  where  the 
thought,  the  feeling,  the  desire,  does  not 
consciously  reach  God ;  and,  seeing  how 
hard  it  is  to  lift  the  weak  earthly  spirit  of 
man  to  this  high  communion,  there  is  am- 
ple reason  for  a  resort  to  that  aid  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  which  the  apostle  speaks 
(Rom.  viii.  26):  "The  Spirit  also  helpeth 
our  infirmities  ;  for  we  know  not  what  we 
should  pray  for  as  we  ought,  but  the  Spirit 
itself  maketh  intercession  for  us  with  groan- 
ings  which  cannot  be  uttered." 


PRIVATE   PRAYER.  IO5 

III. 

In  praying,  be  carefid,  while  you  pray,  to 

DO  NO  MORE  THAN  PRAY. 

To  pray  is  to  beg,  to  take  the  attitude 
of  one  soliciting  a  favor ;  it  is  something, 
therefore,  quite  different  from  demanding 
or  prescribing  or  enjoining.  It  properly 
excludes  the  assertion  of  a  right  on  the 
part  of  the  petitioner,  for  what  is  a  man's 
by  right  is  his  by  debt.  It  is  what  the 
party  applied  to  is  bound  to  pay.  It  is 
not  w^ith  the  tone  of  demand  that  man  is  to 
address  God ;  prayer  is  an  expression  of 
man's  need,  not  of  God's  duty.  The  ground 
upon  which  it  is  to  be  offered  is  God's  will- 
inorness  to  rcQ^ard  man's  need,  not  an  obli- 
gation  requiring  him  to  relieve  it. 

Now,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  any 
man  would  deliberately  command  the  ser- 
vices of  God,  and  yet  he  may  proximately 
do  this  in  various  ways  ;  as  when  he  for- 
gets that  God  may  properly  say  "No"  to 
his  petition  ;  or  when  he  presumes  to  dic- 
tate the  time  and  the  manner  in  which  his 
prayer  is  to  be  answered  ;  or  when  he  in- 


106  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

sists  Upon  being  gratified  in  his  desires  at 
the  expense  of  God's  will ;  or  when  he  has 
no  intention  to  use  for  God's  glory  the 
favor  asked ;  or  when  he  prays  in  such  a 
temper  as  shall  make  him  feel  wronged  in 
the  event  of  God's  appearing  to  withhold 
the  blessing  sought.  . 

It  is  evident  that  the  spirit  in  which 
prayer  is  to  be  made  is  one  of  profound 
humility.  It  is  that  of  a  beggar  casting  his 
needs  at  the  footstool  of  a  benevolent,  but 
at  the  same  time  a  wise  and  righteous,  sov- 
ereign. The  truly  Christian  man  will  al- 
ways pray  under  the  subduing  and  restrain- 
ing influence  of  this  spirit :  he  will  be  the 
suppliant,  not  the  exactor  ;  and,  with  what- 
ever earnestness  and  importunity  he  may 
urge  his  requests,  he  will  remember  that 
in  regard  to  the  disposal  of  the  matters  to 
which  they  relate  there  are  many  things 
which  he  must  leave  to  the  good-pleasure 
of  God.  The  Saviour's  prayer  in  Gethsem- 
ane  should  teach  his  followers  to  couple 
the  significant  formula  "  If  it  be  possible  " 
with  their  most  ardent  appeals  to  God. 


PRIVATE    PRAYER.  lO/ 

IV. 

Let  your  p7^ayers  be  accompanied  with 
CORRESPONDING  ACTS.  In  otlie}"  words,  act 
in  accordance  with  your  prayers. 

You  will  do  this,  for  instance,  when  you 
patiently  watch  and  wait  for  the  results  of 
your  prayers.  You  do  not  pray  in  the 
spirit  of  the  man  who  presents  a  check  for 
which  he  expects  instantaneously  to  receive 
the  amount  of  money  called  for,  nor  in  that 
of  the  man  who  drops  his  bucket  into  a  well 
looking  for  it  immediately  to  return  filled 
with  water.  You  have  simply  stated  your 
wants  and  your  troubles  to  God,  and  have 
referred  the  solution  of  them  to  him.  To 
his  judgment  you  have  left  the  questions 
as  to  whether  it  is  expedient  that  your  re- 
quest should  be  granted  at  all,  and  whether, 
if  granted,  the  answer  should  come  at  the 
time  or  in  the  form  which  you  have  pro- 
posed. You  have  avowed  your  confi- 
dence in  him  by  thus  appealing  to  God  ; 
you  will  avow  it  still  further  by  subse- 
quendy  maintaining  an  attitude  of  expect- 
ancv  before  him. 


108  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

This  latter  act  of  confidence  seems  ne- 
cessary to  prove  the  reality  of  the  former. 
Who,  seeking  admittance  to  a  house,  would 
knock  at  the  door  and  then  go  away  for- 
getting what  he  had  done  ?  By  waiting  for 
something  to  result  from  it  he  who  truly 
knocks  in  prayer  will  show  that  he  meant 
something  by  knocking.  This  outlooking 
frame  of  mind,  if  cultivated,  would  undoubt- 
edly have  the  double  effect  of  deepening 
the  believer's  sense  of  his  dependence  on 
God  and  of  revealing  to  him  innumerable 
instances  in  which  his  dependence  is  met 
and  relieved  by  the  orderings  of  God's 
providence. 

Another  of  those  acts  which  should  con- 
cur with  prayer  is  the  diligent  using  of  all 
practicable  means  for  securing  the  blessing 
sought.  No  reasonable  man  expects  mir- 
acles to  be  wrought  in  his  behalf,  and  no 
reasonable  man  would  claim  to  be  cred- 
ited as  sincere  in  asking  God  for  a  partic- 
ular benefit,  when  he  was  unwilling  to  make 
an  effort  on  his  own  part  to  gain  it.  A 
man's  working  must  go  along  with  his  pray- 
ing.    God  "giveth  seed  to  the  sower,"  not 


PRIVATE    PRAYER.  IO9 

to  the  sluggard:  "The  husbandman  that 
laboreth  must  be  first  partaker  of  the 
fruits"  (2  Tim.  ii.  6).  A  Christian's  Hfe 
ought  to  be  the  repetition  of  his  prayers, 
and  no  really  religious  man  will  expect  a 
blessing  from  God,  either  temporal  or 
spiritual,  unless  by  corresponding  acts  he 
is  laborinor  to  secure  the  blessing-.  The 
result  of  such  an  accordance  would  prob- 
ably be  that  his  life  would  be  better  and 
his  prayers  more  frequently  successful. 

It  may  be  added,  as  a  further  thought  in 
this  connection,  that  the  man  who  prays  in 
a  right  spirit  will  not  limit  his  praying  to 
the  mere  asking  of  favors  from  God.  The 
same  spirit  that  asks  a  favor  under  the 
stress  of  a  want  or  a  dano-er  will  lead  a 
man  to  express  gratitude  for  favors  already 
received,  to  feel  and  confess  his  sins  which 
make  him  unworthy  of  what  he  asks,  and 
to  render  adoring  ascriptions  of  praise  to 
those  glorious  attributes  and  offices  of  God 
by  which  he  offers  himself  to  his  people  as 
their  Refuge  in  all  their  times  of  trouble. 


no  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 


Let  your  prayers  be  offered  ahvays  with 
a  distinct  reference  to  Christ  as  your 
7nediu7n  of  access  to  God,  as  the  grou?id  of 
your  hope  of  acceptance  with  him,  and  as  the 
High  Priest  tJirough  whose  hands  your  peti- 
tions are  presented  to  the  FatJier. 

While  it  is  true  that  men  are  naturally 
constrained  to  pray  to  God,  it  is  equally 
true  that  they  are  naturally  repelled  in  their 
approach  to  him  by  a  sense  of  their  ill- 
desert.  The  prophet's  question  (Mic.  vi. 
6),  "Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the 
Lord,  and  bow  myself  before  the  high  God?" 
is  one  which  every  member  of  a  sinful  race 
will  feel  obliged  to  ask.  This  "  Where- 
with" is  supplied  in  the  mediation  of  Christ. 
Every  earnest  worshiper  will  thankfully 
recognize  the  fitness  of  this  provision  of  the 
gospel  to  his  wants.  The  name  of  Christ 
has  been  left  by  him  to  his  followers  as  a 
passport  to  the  throne  of  grace.  It  fur- 
nishes them  with  both  a  warrant  and  an  en- 
couragement to  pray.  It  associates  them 
with  Christ  in   their  praying,  enables  them 


PRIVATE    PRAYER.  Ill 

to  join  hands,  as  it  were,  with  him  as  their 
Elder  Brother  in  drawing  near  to  God,  and 
so  inspires  them  with  that  sense  of  sonship 
or  fihal  trustfulness  which  Paul  declares  to 
be  the  privilege  of  every  believer :  "  Ye 
have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage 
again  to  fear,  but  ye  have  received  the 
spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba, 
Father"  (Rom.  viii.  15). 

VL 

Let  the  practical  question,  How  is  this 
PRACTICE  OF  PRAYER  TO  BE  KEPT  UP  ?  be  early 
considered  and  anszuered. 

As  men  are  ordinarily  situated,  this  ques- 
tion will  seem  to  present  a  discouraging 
enigma.  To  many  persons — perhaps  to 
the  majority — the  performance  of  the  duty 
it  proposes  will  appear  an  utter  impossi- 
bility. How  can  the  man  or  the  woman 
pursued  each  day,  from  morning  to  night, 
by  the  exactions  of  business  or  by  the  cares 
of  the  household  find  either  time  or  capacity 
for  such  intercourse  with  God  as  I  have 
been  describing  ?  The  difficulty  is  a  real 
one,  and  it  is  well  for  the  professor  of  re- 


112  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

ligion  to  look  at  it  and  to  dispose  of  it  at 
an  early  period.  There  is  an  advantage  in 
promptly  dealing  with  it.  With  the  view 
of  reducing  it  somewhat,  the  following  siig- 
oestions  are  offered. 

First.  Beware  of  admittino^  the  idea  that 
the  difficulties  which  lie  in  the  way  of  prac- 
ticing private  prayer  are  an  excuse  for 
abandoning  it.  It  is  by  ''enduring  hard- 
ness"— that  is,  by  encountering  and  over- 
coming difficulties — that  you  are  to  show 
yourself  ''a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ." 
Difficulties  lie  all  along  the  path  of  the 
Christian's  life,  and  it  is  by  his  endeav- 
ors to  surmount  them  that  he  will  give 
the  best  evidence  of  the  genuineness  of 
his  faith  and  of  the  earnestness  of  his 
purpose. 

Secojtd.  Put  the  necessity  for  prayer  in 
the  same  class  with  the  necessity  for  your 
daily  food.  A  margin  of  time  will  always 
be  found  for  the  reception  of  the  latter ; 
cannot  a  similar  margin  be  found  for  the 
practice  of  the  former  ?  A  brief  season 
only  is  required  for  prayer  when  the  heart 
is  in   it.     Let  this   be   borrowed   from   the 


PRIVATE   PRAYER.  113 

morning  before  the  day's  work  begins,  or 
from  the  night  before  you  retire  to  sleep. 

Third.  During  the  day,  if  no  opportunity 
for  dehberate  prayer  can  be  found,  try  to 
form  the  habit  of  mentally  holding  com- 
munion with  God.  It  is  possible  to  keep 
God  so  constantly  in  the  view  of  the  soul 
that  he  may  be  consulted  at  any  time  by  a 
glance,  just  as  the  mariner  makes  his  way 
across  the  ocean  by  perpetually  watching 
the  compass.  Especially  in  any  critical 
juncture  it  is  a  wise  custom  and  a  helpful 
resource  to  make  these  quick  appeals  to 
God,  and  so  to  go  into  every  conflict  with 
temptation  consciously  clad  in  a  divine  pan- 
oply. Thus  Nehemiah  (Neh.  ii.  4),  when 
serving  King  Ahasuerus  as  cupbearer,  be- 
fore he  ventured  to  proffer  his  request  to  be 
permitted  to  visit  Jerusalem,  secretly  "pray- 
ed to  the  God  of  heaven.'' 

It  is  an  unspeakable  comfort  to  the  truly 
godly  man  that  God  can  be  addressed  so 
easily,  without  formal  adjuncts,  but  it  needs 
to  be  added  that  the  habit  of  so  addressing 
him  can  hardly  be  kept  alive  without  some- 
times resorting  to  the  aid  of  the  closet  and 


114  FOLLOWING    CUR  1ST. 

the  spoken  word.  It  is  not  the  bended  knee 
nor  the  devout  phrase  which  makes  the 
prayer,  but  still,  as  natural  expressions  of 
what  the  soul  is  doing  in  prayer,  these  are 
such  helps  to  the  spirit  of  prayer  that  with- 
out them  the  latter  is  apt  to  languish  or  to 
expire  altogether. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    CULTIVATION  OF  PERSONAL    RELIGION. 

THERE  is  a  work  to  be  done  by  the 
Christian  which  is  distinct  from  that 
which  belongs  to  him  in  his  capacity  as  a 
member  of  the  church.  It  is  that  of  culti- 
vating religion  in  his  own  soul. 

The  obHgation  to  do  this  work  naturally 
lies  upon  all  men.  In  joining  the  church  a 
man  acknowledges  this  obligation,  and  at 
the  same  time  acknowledges  his  sin  in  hav- 
ing previously  neglected  it  and  avows  his 
purpose  in  the  future  faithfully  to  discharge 
it.  It  was  in  part  to  aid  men  in  doing  this 
work  that  the  Church  was  instituted,  and 
church-membership,  and  even  zeal  in  com- 
plying with  church  rules  and  rites,  will  avail 
nothing  where  this  is  overlooked.  Relig- 
ious living  cannot  exist  where  there  is  not 
religion  in  the  heart.  The  living  of  any 
man,  no  matter  how  it  may  be  made  to  look, 

115 


Il6  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

will  really  be  what  the  man  himself  is.  The 
stream  which  attracts  the  observer's  eye 
must  spring  from  a  fountain  concealed  with- 
in the  hidden  rock,  and  in  its  character  will 
partake  of  the  quality  of  that  fountain.  A 
religious  life  will  be  an  impossibility  unless 
the  springs  of  life  within  the  soul  are  tinc- 
tured and  stirred  by  religious  principles  and 
motives. 

The  follower  of  Christ  must  never  forget 
that  in  order  practically  to  follow  him  he 
must  be  subjectively  or  internally  like  him: 
"  If  any  man  have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
he  is  none  of  his"  (Rom.  viii.  9).  The 
Spirit  of  Christ  is  ah  indwelling  power  de- 
termining the  attributes  and  the  disposition 
of  the  man  himself.  Its  presence  will  be 
attested  by  a  process  of  growth  or  trans- 
formation by  which  the  man  will  be  more 
and  more  shaped  into  the  form  and  devel- 
oped into  the  stature  of  a  perfect  man  in 
Christ  Jesus.  It  would  be  a  fatal  mistake 
to  imagine  that  one  is  born  into  the  king- 
dom of  God  full-grown,  or  that  admission 
to  a  church  seals  his  salvation  and  ab- 
solves him  from  all  further  concern  about 


PERSONAL    RELIGION.  WJ 

his  spiritual  condition.  The  assuming  of 
membership  in  the  church  is  not  the  com- 
pletion, but  the  beginning,  of  a  work.  Or, 
rather,  it  is  the  continuing  of  a  work  which 
had  been  begun  before  in  the  assuming  of 
a  new  relation  to  God  by  the  believer 
through  his  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
That  prior  relation  must  be  maintained  by 
care,  exercise  and  culture  after  he  has  en- 
tered the  church.  All  the  outward  badges 
which  may  be  put  upon  him  will  not  make 
him  what  he  ought  to  be  as  a  member  of 
the  church — that  is,  a  child  of  God.  It  was 
as  a  man  already  religious  that  he  took  on 
him  the  vows  involved  in  a  public  profes- 
sion of  religion.  As  a  religious  man  he  is 
possessed  of  a  new  nature,  evincing  itself 
by  peculiar  affections  toward  God ;  and  the 
vows  involved  in  his  public  profession  re- 
quire him  to  keep  this  new  nature  in  a 
healthy  and  an  active  condition.  He  is  to 
cultivate  it  by  attentions  as  direct  as  those 
he  bestows  upon  a  plant  he  wishes  to  rear, 
or  as  those  by  which  he  seeks  to  educate 
his  child  into  a  becoming  manhood. 

The  true  children  of  God  or  members  of 


I  1 8  FOL  L  O  WING    CHRIS  T. 

his  Church  have  their  type  in  "the  tree 
planted  by  the  rivers  of  water,  bringing 
forth  its  fruit  in  its  season"  (Ps.  i.  3)  — 
that  is,  in  a  hving  and  growing  organism, 
and  not  in  the  dead  columns  standing  in 
stately  symmetry  along  the  aisles  of  a  ca- 
thedral. It  is  life — the  "  life  of  God  in  the 
soul" — which  makes  the  Christian  ;  and  the 
first  duty  of  the  follower  of  Christ  is  to  at- 
tend to  the  cultivation  of  this  life,  or,  what 
is  the  same  thing,  to  "  working  out  his  own 
salvation  with  fear  and  tremblinor." 

I. 

In  doing  this  it  is  evidently  necessary  that 
he  should  give  a  prominent  place  to  the  idea 
that  he  is  standing  always  i^i  direct  contact 
with  God,  so  that  all  his  religious  move- 
ments may  be  said  consciously  to  terminate 
upon  him  as  their  object. 

God  should  be,  in  a  supreme  sense,  the 
One  with  whom  he  has  to  do,  the  One  with 
whom  his  soul  is  perpetually  transacting. 
His  standard  of  character,  his  rules  of  duty, 
the  motives  of  his  conduct,  the  quarter  to 
which  his   responsibilities  point,  and  from 


PERSONAL    RELIGION.  II9 

which  conscience  derives  its  judgments  and 
its  verdicts,  should  distinctively  be  found  in 
God.  It  is  only  by  maintaining  this  inti- 
mate and  constant  association  with  God  that 
any  man  can  be  religious.  It  is  just  as  im- 
possible to  imbue  the  soul  with  the  spirit  of 
piety  without  keeping  it  exposed  to  the  shin- 
ing of  God's  face  as  it  is  impossible  to 
eive  color  to  a  flower  without  the  aid  of  the 
sun's  ray.  It  is  not  enough  to  make  a  fel- 
low-man— not  even  the  best  Christian  you 
know — your  model.  It  is  not  enough  to 
make  the  terms  of  a  decent  standing  in  a 
church  the  measure  of  your  religiousness. 
Whatever  diverts  the  mind  from  God  as  the 
Being  whom  we  are  striving  specially  to 
please,  and  upon  whose  approbation  we 
depend  as  the  ultimate  source  of  our  satis- 
faction, is  adapted  to  stifle  rather  than  to 
foster  the  religious  spirit.  The  right-minded 
child  is  the  one  who  always  keeps  foremost 
in  his  view  the  tribunal  of  his  home,  over 
which  the  parent  presides,  and  who  feels 
that  he  is  true  to  his  obligations  only  so 
long  as  he  puts  that  above  the  opinions  of 
his  companions  and  the  canons  of  society. 


I20  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

In  the  same  way,  God's  children  must  recog- 
nize the  paramount  authority  of  their  home- 
tribunal,  and  must  seek  their  peace  in  the 
commendation  which  their  heavenly  Father 
breathes  upon  them  in  the  solitude  of  his 
presence-chamber.  Such  habitual  dwelling 
with  God  will  be  religious  living,  and  a  living 
in  an  atmosphere  where  the  principle  of  the 
religious  life  will  be  sure  to  grow. 

11. 

That  reasonable  solicitude  which  any  one 
would  feel  in  regard  to  an  undertakin'g  of 
a  worldly  sort  in  which  he  was  interested 
ought  to  be  exercised  by  the  Christian  in 
regard  to  the  spiritual  prosperity  of  his  soul. 

His  bodily  health,  we  know,  is  an  object 
of  concern  to  every  man.  It  requires 
thought,  circumspection,  prudence,  over- 
sight; and  with  persons  who  act  reason- 
ably it  receives  all  these.  It  is  anxiously 
watched  over  from  day  to  day,  and  any  de- 
viation from  a  sound  condition  is  noted  and 
the  remedy  for  it  sought  and  applied.  The 
sincere  Christian  will  inspect  his  religious 
condition  just  as  carefully  and  closely.     He 


PERSONAL   RELIGION.  121 

has  a  character  and  a  standing  to  maintain 
in  reference  to  God,  just  as  he  has  in  refer- 
ence to  the  community  among  whom  he 
Hves ;  and  as  he  guards  these  with  jealous 
vigilance  in  respect  to  the  latter  relation, 
so  he  will  in  respect  to  the  former.  He  will 
''study  to  show  himself  approved  unto  God" 
just  as  he  studies  to  preserve  a  good  repu- 
tation in  the  sight  of  his  neighbors.  He 
will  never  suffer  himself  to  fall  into  indiffer- 
ence or  recklessness  in  regard  to  his  relig- 
ious state,  nor  indolently  take  it  for  grant- 
ed that  all  is  right  within  him.  While  he 
sleeps  thus  the  enemy  may  be  sowing  tares 
amongst  the  wheat  which  he  has  pledged 
himself  to  produce. 

St.  Paul's  proposal  to  Barnabas  (Acts  xv. 
36),  "  Let  us  go  again  and  visit  our  brethren 
in  every  city  where  we  have  preached  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  and  see  how  they  do' — or 
fare,  as  the  word  means — indicates  a  work 
which  every  Christian  needs  to  perform  for 
himself  He  is  to  go  again  and  again  and 
see  how  his  soul  is  faring.  Other  interests 
must  not  be  allowed  to  interrupt  his  watch- 
fulness over  this  superlative  one. 


122  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

The  sad  lament  of  the  Bride  in  the  Song 
of  Solomon  (i.  6),  "They  made  me  keeper 
of  the  vineyards,  but  mine  own  vineyard 
have  I  not  kept,"  might  be  made  by  many 
a  follower  of  Christ  who  has  been  led  to 
neglect  his  spiritual  estate  in  his  absorbing 
devotion  to  his  secular  concerns.  The 
world  is  a  hard  master  and  will  urge  its 
claims  with  an  unsparing  rigor.  Its  exac- 
tions must  be  resisted,  or  the  Christian's 
own  "vineyard"  will  suffer  damage.  It  is 
true  there  is  a  possibility  of  an  excessive 
attention  to  the  frames  and  workings  of  the 
soul.  Some  men  practice  this  introspection 
or  self-anatomy  to  such  a  degree  that  they 
fall  into  a  morbid  state  of  mind  and  lose  the 
power  of  accurate  discernment.  The  re- 
sults in  such  cases  are  hurtful  because  of 
the  abuse  of  a  mode  of  treatment  which 
when  properly  applied  is  right  and  whole- 
some. But  that  some  caring  for,  some 
watching  over,  some  keeping  of,  his  own 
vineyard  or  his  own  religious  state,  by  the 
Christian  is  a  necessary  condition  of  his 
spiritual  health  and  prosperity  is  undeni- 
able. 


PERSONAL   RELIGION.  1 23 

III. 

The  positive  methods  by  which  piety  may  be 
expected  to  be  fostered  i7i  the  heart  ought  to 
be  diligently  made  use  of  by  the  professor 
of  religion. 

Every  faculty,  every  aptitude,  of  man  is 
capable  of  culture  and  attains  perfection 
through  culture.  "In  grace"  men  may 
"  grow,"  as  in  other  things ;  and  growth 
means  progress,  development,  advancement 
from  stage  to  stage — a  process  which,  in 
the  nature  of  it,  may  be  helped  or  retarded 
by  favoring  or  opposing  circumstances. 
The  Christian  will  grow  in  grace  by  faith- 
fully using  all  legitimate  means  of  grace. 
For  instance, 

1.  He  will  seek  to  enlarge  his  religious 
knowledge,  for  in  any  department  knowl- 
edge is  an  aid  to  efficiency.  To  this  end 
he  will  avail  himself  of  the  instruction  offer- 
ed through  the  Scriptures,  the  pulpit  and 
the  lecture-room,  and  the  various  forms  of 
religious  literature. 

2.  He  will  seek  to  keep  his  religious 
affections  in  lively  exercise,  and  to  this  end 


124  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

will  be  much  engaged  in  converse  with  God 
as  he  appears  to  the  eye  of  faith  in  his  glo- 
rious attributes,  in  his  providential  work- 
ings, and  especially  in  his  gracious  mani- 
festations through  Christ  and  the  Holy 
Spirit.  He  will  be  quick  to  mark  the  bear- 
ings of  these  upon  his  own  experiences, 
and  will  try  to  hold  his  heart  open  to  every 
address  they  make  to  it.  Above  all  things 
he  will  prize  the  aid  to  be  derived  in  this 
respect  from  secret  prayer,  social  devotion 
and  public  worship. 

3.  He  will  seek  to  acquire  an  enlightened 
and  active  conscience,  and  in  order  to  this 
will  accustom  himself  to  test  his  moral  per- 
ceptions and  judgments  by  the  word  of  God, 
and  to  yield  them  assent  and  obedience  on 
the  ground  of  God's  authority  rather  than 
because  they  seem  to  be  right  in  his  own 
eyes.  A  man  may  safely  follow  conscience 
when  he  consults  it  with  a  sincere  desire  to 
hear  God  speaking  in  its  utterances,  and 
when  he  requires  it  to  verify  its  right  to 
speak  by  harmonizing  its  utterances  with 
the  voice  of  God. 

4.  He  will  seek  to  preserve   the  purity 


PERSONAL    RELIGION.  12$ 

and  the  delicacy  of  his  rehgious  sensibilities, 
and  in  order  to  this  will  keep  his  affections 
fixed  upon  things  which  are  really  true  and 
good  and  guard  them  against  the  seductive 
influence  of  those  which  are  merely  plausi- 
ble and  specious.  He  will  "try  the  spirits" 
before  he  gives  his  faith  to  them.  The 
chaste  soul  truly  espoused  to  Christ  will  feel 
that  in  ''calling  evil  good"  in  any  form,  or 
in  "  loving  or  making  a  lie,"  it  is  guilty  both 
of  treachery  to  its  Lord  and  of  defiling  it- 
self. 

5.  He  will  seek  to  abound  in  those  char- 
itable dispositions  and  works  by  which  Jesus 
was  so  distinguished,  and  to  this  end  will 
place  himself  in  sympathy  with  the  world 
around  him  and  endeavor  to  keep  his  life 
mingling  as  a  current  of  kindness  with 
the  common  life  of  his  generation. 

6.  He  will  seek,  in  a  word,  to  reproduce 
in  himself,  so  far  as  this  is  possible,  the  per- 
fect mind  and  character  of  Christ,  and  to 
this  end  will  by  steady  self-denial  purge 
himself  of  his  natural  corruptions  and  faults, 
and  with  a  patience  and  minuteness  of  at- 
tention like  that  of  the  sculptor  will  labor 


126  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

to  shape  himself  into  a  Hkeness  to  his  Lord. 
It  is  thus  by  its  onward  motion  that  the  re- 
Hgious  Hfe  asserts  its  presence,  as  the  clock 
serves  the  purpose  of  a  clock  only  when  its 
hands  are  traveling  around  the  dial-plate. 
Therefore,  says  the  apostle  (Heb.  xii.  i), 
*'  let  us  lay  aside  every  weight  and  the  sin 
that  doth  so  easily  beset  us,  and  let  us  run 
with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us, 
looking  unto  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher 
of  our  faith." 

IV. 

The  -counterpart  of  what  has  just  been 
said  is  that  the  Christian  who  wishes  to 
grow  in  religion  will,  as  far  as  possible,  dis- 
e?itangle  himself  from  all  such  associations 
and  surroundings  as  are  unfavorable  to 
religion. 

The  Christian  is  the  occupant  of  two 
spheres  so  intermingled  that  he  must  neces- 
sarily live  in  both.  The  one  is  the  world, 
the  other  is  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  his 
difficult  duty  to  maintain  the  character  of  a 
subject  of  the  kingdom  of  God  while  he  is 
actually  doing  his  part  as  a  denizen  of  the 


PERSONAL    RELIGION.  12/ 

world.  It  was  with  these  contradictory  ele- 
ments of  their  condition  in  his  view  that  the 
Saviour  prayed  for  his  disciples  (John  xvii. 
15)  :  "I  pray  not  that  thou  shouldest  take 
them  out  of  the  world,  but  that  thou  should- 
est keep  them  from  the  evil."  What  the 
Saviour  here  prays  the  Father  to  do  the 
honest  professor  of  religion  will  himself 
endeavor  to  do — that  is,  keep  himself  from 
the  evil  to  which  he  is  exposed  while  in  the 
world. 

That  there  is  evil  in  the  world  admits  of 
no  question.  The  policy  of  the  world  in  its 
best  forms  is  a  policy  which  originates  with 
the  world  and  terminates  upon  the  world. 
Directly  it  knows  nothing  of  a  God  before, 
above  or  beyond  the  world.  It  never  pro- 
poses to  make  men  religioiis.  It  has  no 
facilities  to  offer  them  in  this  direction.  The 
religious  man  pursuing  his  aim  as  such  will 
find  himself  in  the  position  of  a  vessel  beat- 
ing its  way  by  every  device  into  port  in  the 
face  of  an  opposing  tide  and  contrary  winds. 
The  adverse  power  of  the  world  does  not 
so  much  lie  in  its  gross  forms  of  opposition 
to  the  kingdom  of  God  as  in  that  large  class 


128  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

of  occupations  and  enjoyments  in  which,  it 
is  said,  a  religious  man  may  engage  without 
ceasing  to  be  religious.  These  occupations 
and  enjoyments  constitute  a  kind  of  com- 
mon territory  in  which  the  Christian  and 
the  worldly  man  may  meet.  The  policy  of 
the  world  extends  over  it,  or  the  worldly 
man  would  not  be  found  there.  Can  the 
Christian  enter  it  without  being  imbued  with 
this  policy?  Can  he  consort  there  with 
men  of  the  world  without  becominor  like 
them,  and  so  ceasing  to  be  religious  ? 

Here  is  the  difficulty  of  his  position  ;  and 
hence  the  need  of  the  counsel :  Beware 
of  these  associations  and  surroundings, 
through  which  the  policy  of  an  irreligious 
world  is  operating,  lest  you  be  brought  un- 
der the  dominion  of  this  policy.  The  voice 
that  invites  you  into  them  is  a  siren  voice. 
The  evil  against  which  the  Saviour  prayed 
lies  lurking  in  them,  and  it  becomes  you  to 
enter  them  with  a  cautious  foot  and  to  move 
among  them  with  a  vigilant  eye. 

No  man,  unless  shielded  and  upheld  by 
the  grace  of  God,  is  proof  against  the  power 
of  these  worldly  associations  and  surround- 


PEA'SONAL    RELIC  10 X.  1 29 

ings.  His  nature  disposes  him  to  accom- 
modate himself  to  the  element  in  which  he 
is  placed,  and  he  cannot  rely  upon  natural 
power,  therefore,  to  protect  him  against  the 
influence  of  that  element.  "  Watch  and  pray 
lest  ye  enter  into  temptation,"  said  the  Lord 
to  his  disciples  at  a  time  when  he  foresaw 
that  their  natural  strength  was  to  be  tried 
to  the  utmost  by  impending  dangers.  The 
cases  are  without  number  in  the  history  of 
the  people  of  God  where  men  have  started 
in  their  Christian  course  with  the  purest 
purposes  and  the  warmest  fervor,  and  after- 
ward, by  stepping  too  far  into  the  stream 
of  worldly  business  or  pleasure,  or  by  stay- 
incr  in  it  too  lone,  have  lost  their  steadfast- 
ness  and  have  been  swept  away  into  all  the 
excesses  of  a  worldly  life. 

The  Christian  cannot  go  out  of  the  world, 
but  he  is  required  not  to  be  conformed  to 
the  world ;  and  he  must  therefore  guard 
himself  against  the  transforming  power  of 
the  world  by  keeping  himself  in  contact  and 
association  with  those  patterns  of  life  which 
belong  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  must 
check  the  growing  weight  of  the  attractions 


I30  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

of  a  worldly  life  by  loading  the  opposite 
scale  with  a  preponderating  weight  of  spirit- 
ual interests  and  enjoyments.  In  the  world 
he  must  appear  as  one  abroad.  In  the  fel- 
lowship of  Christian  minds,  and  in  those 
scenes  and  occupations  in  which  he  may 
meet  and  converse  with  his  Lord,  he  must 
find  his  home.  O  follower  of  Jesus,  when 
you  feel  your  relish  for  the  exchange,  the 
club-room  or  the  haunts  of  social  amuse- 
ment exceeding  and  impairing  your  relish 
for  the  prayer-meeting,  the  religious  con- 
ference or  the  society  of  your  pious  friends, 
be  admonished  that  the  pulse  of  spiritual 
life  is  declining,  and  that  the  danger  of 
which  your  Master  forewarned  you  under 
the  name  ''the  evil  which  is  in  the  world" 
is  becoming  imminent  in  your  case  ! 

V. 

The  cultivation  of  religion  will  hardly  be 
prosecuted  unless  a  deep  sense  of  eternal 
things  and  an  eternal  ivorld  is  kept  alive 
in  the  heart. 

The  "  powers  of  the  world  to  come"  need 
to  be  set  over  against  the  powers  of  the 


PERSONAL    RELIGION.  I3I 

world  that  now  is.  How  constantly  the  dis- 
ciples are  stimulated  to  fidelity  and  watch- 
fulness by  references  in  the  New  Testament 
to  the  coming  of  the  Lord  !  How  earnestly 
the  Christian  racer  is  exhorted  to  keep  his 
goal  in  view  !  How  the  fainting  believer 
is  rallied  by  the  call  to  look  away  from  the 
things  which  are  seen  and  temporal  to  those 
which  are  not  seen  and  eternal !  It  is  the 
waiting  for  the  Bridegroom  that  keeps  the 
servant  ready.  The  love  of  a  world  in 
which  he  naturally  has  so  many  interests, 
and  with  which  he  is  so  intimately  associ- 
ated, needs  to  be  tempered  for  the  Christian 
by  cherishing  aspirations  after  the  higher 
one  to  which,  as  a  joint-heir  with  Christ,  he 
is  destined  ;  and  the  ardor  with  which  treas- 
ure on  earth  is  pursued  must  be  moderated 
by  a  spiritual  thrift  which  seeks  to  lay  up 
treasure  in  heaven. 

The  traveler  about  to  pass  into  a  foreign 
country  naturally  anticipates  the  prepara- 
tion required  for  his  residence  there  and 
makes  it  beforehand.  In  the  same  way  the 
Christian  pilgrim,  will  in  all  things  aim  to 
make  his  use  of  the  present  world  subordi- 


132  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

nate  to  his  well-being  in  the  next.  It  is  the 
man  who  habitually  keeps  his  mind  impress- 
ed with  the  transitory  nature  of  the  condi- 
tion in  which  he  is  now  placed,  and  forecasts 
the  momentous  state  into  which  he  is  about 
to  be  introduced,  who  will  be  most  likely  to 
be  found  amidst  all  his  worldly  environ- 
ments with  his  ear  on  the  watch  for  the  signal 
of  departure  and  with  his  preparation  for 
that  event  all  complete.  He  will  be  most 
likely  to  avoid  that  "minding  of  the  flesh" 
which  is  "  enmity  against  God,"  and  which 
hinders  all  spiritual  growth,  and  to  culti- 
vate that  "  holiness  without  which  no  man 
can  see  the  Lord  "  In  the  quaint  words  of 
the  saintly  Rutherford,  ''  the  instinct  of  na- 
ture maketh  a  man  love  his  mother-country 
above  all  countries  ;  the  instinct  of  renewed 
nature  and  supernatural  grace  will  lead  you 
to  such  and  such  works — as  to  love  your 
country  above,  to  sigh  to  be  clothed  with 
your  house  not  made  with  hands,  and  to 
call  your  borrowed  prison  here  below  a  bor- 
rowed prison,  and  to  look  upon  it  servant- 
like and  pilgrim-like  ;  and  the  pilgrim  eye 
and  look  is  a  disdainful-like,  discontented 


PERSONAL    RELIGION.  1 33 

cast  of  his  eye,  his  heart  crying  after  his 
eye,  *Fy!  fy!     This  is  not  Hke my  country!'" 

VI. 
It  ought  perhaps  to  be  added,  for  the  en- 
couragement of  the  faithful  Christian,  that 
growth  in  religion  does  not  necessarily  make 
itself  known  to  the  consciousness.  It  may  be 
going  on  where  there  is  no  sign  which  the 
subject  of  it  can  detect.  Insensibly  the 
child  springs  up  into  the  man.  Insensi- 
bly the  true  disciple  advances  in  spiritual 
capacity  and  stature.  He  will  never  see 
the  time  when  he  will  not  need  to  struesfle 
after  further  advancement.  The  larger  the 
measure  of  his  attainments,  the  higher  will 
rise  his  ideal.  He  may  seem  not  to  be 
growing ;  but  if  the  Spirit  of  God  be  in  him, 
he  is  doing  so.  Despondency  must  not  for 
a  moment  be  entertained  by  the  honest 
follower  of  Christ.  Vigilance  and  exertion 
must  never  be  relaxed.  Infirmities  may  cling 
to  him  with  an  inveterate  tenacity,  besetting 
sins  may  show  their  vitality  after  years  of 
repression,  weakness  or  inadvertence  may 
betray  him   into  falls  just  when   he  is  per- 


134  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

suading  himself  he  is  most  secure ;  but  if 
from  every  failure  and  delinquency  he  rises 
with  a  more  determined  purpose  to  follow 
after  Christ,  that  purpose  is  the  sign  of  a 
life  which  is  perhaps  even  growing  more 
robust  by  overcoming  the  obstructions  it 
encounters.  The  very  effort  to  subdue 
corruption  in  one  department  of  the  soul 
may  be  the  means  of  imperceptibly  gener- 
ating or  developing  grace  in  other  depart- 
ments. The  evidence  of  progress  in  religion 
is  to  be  found,  not  in  the  actual  attainment 
of  perfection,  but  in  the  patient  and  perse- 
vering effort  to  attain  it.  This  is  all  the 
evidence  that  St.  Paul  had.  "  Brethren," 
he  says  (Phil.  iii.  13),  "I  count  not  myself 
to  have  apprehended,  but  this  one  thing  I 
do :  forgetting  those  things  which  are  be- 
hind, and  reaching  forth  unto  those  things 
which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the  mark 
for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus."  And  by  the  same  evidence 
every  Christian  can  assure  himself  of  the 
same  fact. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

RELIGION    nV    THE    CHURCH. 

THE  conduct  of  the  church-member 
must  in  some  way  be  affected  by  his 
union  with  the  church. 

This  is  to  be  expected ;  because,  tirst, 
association  or  partnership  always  obhges  a 
man  to  consult  the  will  of  his  associates  or 
partners;  and,  second,  the  church  being  an 
oro-anlzation  created  for  certain  ends,  each 
member  of  it  is  charged  with  an  obUgatlon 
to  pursue  those  ends. 

The  man  who  after  he  has  united  with 
the  church  practically  Ignores  the  relation, 
and  holds  himself  aloof  from  the  corporate 
life  and  action  of  the  church,  is  repeating 
the  fallacy  of  the  man  who  refuses  to  join 
the  church  on  the  Q-round  that  he  can  be  as 
good  a  Christian  out  of  the  church  as  in  it 
In  fact,  he  is  adding  inconsistency  to  unrea- 

135 


13^  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

sonableness  and  had  better  never  have 
entered  the  church  at  all.  Such  Inert  mem- 
bers are  a  dead-weight  upon  the  church 
rather  than  an  accession  to  its  force. 

The  followers  of  Christ  constitute  a  house- 
hold, and  a  household  that  has  its  distinct  in- 
terests and  duties.  "All  ye  are  brethren," 
said  Christ  (Matt,  xxiii.  8),  which  means 
that  every  professed  disciple  of  the  Lord  is 
bound  to  show  himself  a  brother  to  his 
fellow-disciples.  St.  Paul,  speaking  of 
Christians,  says  (i  Cor.  xii.  20),  "Now  are 
they  many  members,  but  one  body."  The 
"one  body" — the  church — has  a  life  of  its 
own  which  can  be  distinguished  from  the 
life  of  the  several  members,  and  yet  is  con- 
stituted by  the  united  livc^s  of  the  several 
members.  The  human  body  is  a  type  ot 
the  church,  composed  of  a  diversity  of 
members,  so  that  each  member  is  required 
in  its  actine  to  regard  the  well-beino-  of 
the  other  members.  The  foot,  for  instance, 
must  be  governed  in  the  use  it  makes  of 
itself  by  a  regard  to  the  interests  of  the  hand  ; 
and  the  eye,  by  a  regard  to  the  interests  of 
the  ear. 


RELIGION  IN   THE    CHURCH,  1 3/ 

Besides,  everv  church-member  ensfaofes 
by  a  positive  covenant  to  make  the  purposes 
for  which  the  church  exists  his  own.  As  it  is 
the  duty  of  every  man  who  professes  to  be 
a  follower  of  Christ  to  attach  himself  to  his 
Church,  so  it  is  his  duty — and  a  duty  which 
he  solemnly  acknowledges  by  his  connection 
with  the  church — to  contribute  his  propor- 
tion of  that  efficiency  which  is  required  in 
order  to  enable  the  Church  to  execute  the 
ministry  which  has  been  assigned  to  it  by 
its  divine  Head.  This  ministry  includes, 
first,  certain  offices  to  be  performed  to  the 
body  itself,  and,  second,  certain  offices  to  be 
performed  to  the  world  at  large. 

I. 

In  carrying  out  this  ministry,  evidently, 
every  church-member  should  feel  and  ex- 
press a  hearty  intej^est  in  the  affairs  of  the 
chtirch. 

It  is  to  be  supposed  that  he  had  a  definite 
motive  in  attachinor  himself  to  the  Church 
and  in  soliciting  membership  in  the  partic- 
ular church  which  he  has  joined.  That 
motive  should  exhibit  itself  just  as  clearly 


138  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

in  his  subsequent  conduct.  What  concerns 
the  church,  it  should  be  henceforth  seen,  is 
a  matter  of  personal  concern  to  him. 

It  might  seem  supererogatory  to  give 
such  counsel  as  this,  and  yet  facts  show 
that  there  is  an  occasion  for  it.  Multitudes 
enter  the  Christian  Church  apparently 
without  the  least  idea  that  they  are  thereby 
charging  themselves  with  a  specific  set  of 
corporate  obligations.  As  in  the  matter  of 
embracing  Christ  they  were  acting  entirely 
in  a  private  capacity,  they  are  apt  to  carry 
the  same  feelinor  of  isolation  into  the  act  of 
entering  into  the  visible  community  of  be- 
lievers— an  act  which  they  regard  as  merely 
complementary  to  the  other.  Their  solici- 
tudes are  therefore  limited  to  themselves. 
They  overlook  the  fact  that  in  identifying 
themselves  with  this  community  they  are 
identifying  themselves  with  a  living  organ- 
ism that  gets  its  life  and  efficiency  from  the 
contributions  of  each  constituent  member. 

Or  if  this  fact  is  not  entirely  overlooked, 
the  church-member  may  come  to  feel  that 
he  is  fitted  to  occupy  only  a  negative  position 
in  the  church  by  reason  of  his  low  estimate 


RELIGION  IN   THE    CHURCH,  1 39 

of  his  personal  abilities  or  his  obscure  social 
standing.  The  result  is  that  such  persons 
remain  to  a  great  extent  strangers  in  the 
family  into  which  they  have  been  adopted. 
They  are  rather  lodgers  in  the  house  of 
God  than  active  members  of  the  household. 
They  are  like  the  passengers  of  a  ship,  who, 
having  been  duly  booked,  feel  that  they 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  sit  quietly  and  be 
conveyed  to  their  destination.  They  take 
it  for  ^ranted  that  the  seamen  will  attend 
to  the  management  of  the  ship.  This  is 
to  misread  altogether  the  terms  of  their 
enlistment.  They  are  the  seamen,  not  the 
passengers  ;  parties  charged  with  the  cus- 
tody and  conduct  of  a  cargo,  not  repre- 
sentatives of  that  cargo.  It  was  "  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,"  that  the 
Son  of  man  came  (Matt.  xx.  28),  and  his 
followers  m.ust  enter  into  his  service  and 
kingdom  in  the  same  spirit. 

The  actual  exhibition  of  this  spirit  will 
depend  upon  the  degree  with  which  the 
professor  of  religion  associates  himself  in 
interest  and  sympathy  with  the  church  to 
which  he  has  attached  himself     And,  there- 


140  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

fore,  he  needs  to  be  admonished  to  see  that 
his  heart  goes  with  his  profession.  *'  No 
man,"  said  Jesus  (Luke  ix.  62),  "having  put 
his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  looking  back" 
— or  forgetting  that  his  business  is  to  drive 
the  plough  forward —  ''  is  fit  for  the  kingdom 
of  God."  And  as  another  consideration  in 
favor  of  the  duty  I  am  enjoining  it  may  be 
suggested  that  it  is  probable  those  who 
hold  themselves  aloof  from  church  fellow- 
ship and  church  work  will  become  com- 
plainers  and  unfriendly  critics  of  what  their 
brethren  are  doing.  The  men  who  do  not 
plough  are  apt  to  occupy  themselves  with 
uncharitable  faultfinding  with  the  efforts  of 
those  who  are  attempting  to  plough,  and  so 
put  themselves  in  the  unenviable  position 
of  hinderers  of  the  Lord's  work. 

II. 
Every  church-member  is  entrusted,  to 
some  degree,  with  the  mamtaiiiing  of  the 
character  which  the  Church  is  intended,  in  the 
plan  of  its  Founder,  to  illustrate.  He  is  to 
be  the  type,  the  living  representative,  of 
that  "  holy  nation,"  that  "  peculiar  people," 


RELIGION  IN    THE    CHURCH.  I4I 

which  the  followers  of  the  Saviour  are  said 
to  constitute. 

In  executing  this  trust  he  has  a  duty  to 
perform  first  to  his  fellow-Christians.  He 
is  to  exert  such  an  influence  as  his  circum- 
stances and  abilities  allow  in  favor  of  that 
piety  which  is  the  characteristic  of  the  spirit- 
ual family  to  which  he  belongs.  He  is  to 
ofive  liorht  to  others,  as  he  in  turn  is  to 
receive  light  from  them.  He  may  hold  only 
a  taper,  and  they  a  torch  ;  but  the  taper 
can  add  to  the  light  of  the  torch,  or  a  taper 
brightly  blazing  may  even  replenish  the  wan- 
ing light  of  an  expiring  torch.  No  man  is 
without  influence.  By  the  power  of  ex- 
ample, if  in  no  other  way,  he  may  affect 
others  and  contribute  his  share  to  the  work 
of  edifying  the  Church  of  God.  No  truly 
consistent,  devout  and  godly  church-member 
lives  unnoticed  or  fails  to  quicken  duller 
souls  by  the  clear  shining  of  his  light. 

Then,  in  the  second  place,  there  is  an 
influence  to  be  exerted  in  impressing  the 
world  with  the  divine  specialty  of  the  religion 
of  Christ.  Every  church-member  may  be, 
and  ought  to  be,  an  "epistle"  of  piety  so 


142  FOLLOWING    CILRIST. 

legibly  written  that  it  may  be  "  known  and 
read  of  all  men,"  and  written,  I  may  add,  in 
such  celestial  characters  that  all  men  may 
be  convinced  that  it  is  the  product  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  It  is  not  the  excellence  of  its 
creed  nor  of  its  government  nor  of  its  modes 
of  worship  which  gives  credit  to  a  church  in 
the  eyes  of  worldly  men.  It  is  the  exactness 
with  which  the  members  of  a  church  fulfill 
the  rigid  practical  tests  which  worldly  men 
will  be  sure  to  apply  to  them.  Inconsistent 
and  irregular  professors  of  religion,  it  is 
no  exaggeration  to  say,  are  more  effective 
enemies  to  the  cause  of  Christ  than  the 
bitterest  opponents  to  be  found  in  the  ranks 
of  infidelity.  What  the  Church  ought  to 
be  as  "  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth," 
and  as  the  body  of  Christ  animated  by  his 
Spirit,  each  particular  Christian  ought  to 
be  in  his  measure  and  sphere. 

III. 

It  follows  from  this  that  every  church- 
member  ought  to  endeavor  to  qtcalify  hwi- 
selffor  usefulness. 

A  talent  which  has  never  been  exercised 


RELIGION  IN   THE    CHURCH.  1 43 

or  called  into  practice  places  its  possessor 
in  a  position  not  differing  much  from  that 
of  the  man  who,  having  received  a  talent, 
deliberately  goes  and  hides  it  in  a  napkin. 
Two  mites  which  a  poor  widow  gave  to  the 
Lord  were  acknowledged  by  him.  Every 
Christian  probably  has  at  his  command  a 
source  of  influence  equivalent  to  these  two 
mites.  In  fact,  until  the  trial  is  honestly 
made,  no  one  knows  what  gifts  have  been 
laid  in  his  keeping.  Poor  as  the  distrustful 
disciple  may  deem  himself,  spiritually  or 
intellectually,  he  can  easily  find  some  one 
else  who  is  poorer,  whose  deficiencies  can 
be  supplied  even  out  of  his  scanty  resources. 
The  art  of  being  useful,  like  all  other  arts, 
is  to  be  acquired  by  practice.  No  man 
knows  the  ability  there  is  in  him  till,  like 
the  spark  struck  from  the  steel,  it  has  been 
brought  out  by  the  stroke  of  effort.  In  the 
difierent  departments  of  religious  work  laid 
out  for  itself  by  any  active  church,  such  as 
Sabbath-  and  mission-schools,  prayer-meet- 
ings, benevolent  associations  and  evangeli- 
cal visitation  and  labor,  an  opportunity  is 
offered  for  the  use  of  every  kind  of  talent; 


144  FOLLOWINC,    CHRIST. 

and  every  kind  of  talent  Is  usually  welcomed 
by  those  who  superintend  these  depart- 
ments. At  all  events,  the  home  and  the 
family  form  a  sphere  in  which  the  humblest 
individual  may  do  good. 

Particularly  I  would  suggest  that  the 
prayer-meeting — which  is  eminently  a  social 
institution  where  Christians  seek  to  be 
helpers  of  one  another's  faith  and  joy — lays 
a  special  claim  upon  the  male  members  of 
a  church.  A  meeting  for  prayer  implies, 
of  course,  that  among  the  parties  present 
there  are  some  who  are  able  and  willinof  to 
offer  prayer.  It  is  not  said  that  all  present 
are  under  an  obligation  to  do  this,  for  it  is 
evident  that  the  gifts  which  qualify  a  person 
profitably  to  lead  the  minds  of  others  in  this 
exercise  are  not  indiscriminately  granted  to 
all  Christians.  But  it  is  just  as  evident  that 
if  the  prayer-meeting  is  to  be  sustained,  an 
obligation  rests  upon  some — and  upon  a 
sufficient  number — of  a  congregation  to  see 
that  this  duty  is  performed.  The  question, 
therefore,  ought  to  press  itself  upon  the 
mind  of  every  conscientious  church-member, 
"  Can  I  not  in  this  way  serve  the  church?" 


RELIGION  IN    THE    CHURCH.  145 

The  reluctance  which  is  naturally  felt  to  the 
performance  of  a  public  service  like  this  is 
not  a  sufficient  reason  for  concluding  that 
the  obligation  does  not  exist,  for  many  a 
duty  has  to  be  performed  at  the  cost  of  self- 
denial.  Where  the  voice  of  the  church 
distinctly  calls  for  the  rendering  of  such  a 
service  at  the  hands  of  any  of  its  members, 
it  is  probably  safe  to  conclude  that  it  is  their 
duty  to  render  it ;  and  it  is  equally  safe  to 
expect  that  the  grace  which  is  promised  to 
all  believers  in  every  time  of  need  will  upon 
trial  successfully  carry  them  through  all  the 
difficulties  which  beset  it. 

The  man  who  is  accustomed  to  offer 
prayer  to  God  in  secret  and  in  audible 
words,  as  it  is — at  least  sometimes — well  to 
do,  and  who  in  addition  conducts  worship 
in  his  family,  as  all  Christian  householders 
oueht  to  do,  will  find  that  he  has  at  hand 
all  the  subjects  and  all  the  phrases  which 
are  needed  at  the  prayer-meeting.  The 
ambition  which  aims  at  making  2.  fine  prayer 
is  not  only  out  of  place  on  such  an  occasion, 
but  ought  to  be  repressed  as  a  positive 
offence  against  God.  The  social  prayer  is 
10 


146  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

generally  most  seasonable  and  effective 
when  it  is  simple  and  short.  Considering 
the  benefit  which  may  be  communicated 
to  pious  souls  through  the  medium  of  a 
prayer  offered  by  another — a  benefit  which 
every  Christian  has  experienced — the  ability 
to  pray  for  and  with  others  is  surely  a  tal- 
ent which  ought  to  be  coveted. 

The  predicament  in  which  a  professedly 
religious  man  finds  himself  when  the  request 
is  made  to  him  by  some  suffering  or  dying 
fellow-being,  "  Pray  for  me,"  and  the  reply 
has  to  be  given,  "  I  cannot,"  is  a  sad  one.  It 
is  one  which  has  often  occurred.  Surely  it 
is  one  which  ought  never  to  have  occurred. 
The  follower  of  Christ  ought  to  be  as  ready 
to  respond  to  the  appeal  "Pray  for  me"  as 
his  Master  was  to  give  an  answer  to  his 
disciples'  request,  "  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray." 

IV. 

The  church-member  should  be  a  coadju- 
tor with  his  brethren  in  every  authorized 
effort  to  s2ipport  and  propagate  Christianity. 

The  church  which  can  hear  the  Lord  say, 
*'  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 


RELTGTON  IN   THE    CHURCH.  1 47 

gospel  to  every  creature"  (Mark  xvi.  15), 
and  yet  refuse  to  engage  in  such  efforts,  is 
like  the  son  who  to  his  father's  command, 
"  Go  work  to-day  in  my  vineyard,"  replied, 
"I  will  not"  (Matt.  xxi.  28).  It  is  belieing 
its  character  as  a  church. 

Now,  a  church  is  an  organized  body  and 
does  its  work  in  an  orderly  and  regular 
way.  It  is  under  a  divinely-constituted 
government.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  gov- 
erninor  officers  to  see  that  the  church  is 
prosecuting  its  appropriate  benevolent  and 
evangelical  labors,  and  it  is  to  be  presumed 
that  these  officers,  from  their  position  and 
from  the  directness  of  their  responsibility, 
will  be  best  able  to  define  the  kind  of  labors 
in  which  the  body  of  Christ's  followers  ought 
at  any  time  to  engage.  The  faithful  church- 
member  will  therefore  accord  to  the  govern- 
ing powers  of  his  church  an  authority  to  di- 
rect him  in  this  matter.  He  will  accept  the 
system  of  operations  devised  by  his  church 
for  its  members  as  a  good  one,  and  will  feel 
himself  under  obligation  to  yield  it  his  sup- 
port unless  a  clear  conviction  of  his  duty  to 
God  constrains  him  to  do  otherwise. 


148  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

The  position  that  church-authorities  have 
no  right  to  prescribe  to  the  private  member 
his  duty  in  this  respect,  and  that  he  may 
lawfully  withhold  his  support  from  any 
church  enterprise  because  he  does  not  see 
the  expediency  of  it  or  because  he  does  not 
deem  it  as  important  as  some  other  enter- 
prise, is  undoubtedly  a  wrong  one.  Church- 
members  who,  for  instance,  oppose  missions 
among  the  heathen,  as  some  do,  on  these 
grounds,  although  the  judgment  of  the 
deliberative  and  governing  authorities  of 
the  church  has  unanimously  pronounced  the 
work  to  be  effected  by  such  missions  to  be 
one  which  Christian  people  cannot  overlook 
without  expressing  disloyalty  to  their  Lord, 
are  failing  to  acknowledge  as  they  ought  to 
do  the  authority  of  those  who  are  appointed 
to  rule  over  and  admonish  them.  A  certain 
amount  of  obedience  to  those  who  are 
charged  with  the  oversight  of  the  house  of 
God  is  due  from  those  who  have  come  under 
the  household  law. 

Such  schemes  of  benevolent  and  evan- 
gelistic work  as  have  been  devised  by  the 
church  will  be  adopted  by  every  well-dis- 


RELIGION  IN  THE  CHURCH.  1 49 

posed  church-member  as  an  object  of  per- 
sonal interest  and  sustained  to  the  best  of 
his  abiUty.  In  fact,  these  schemes  are  meth- 
ods devised  for  him  and  facihties  furnished 
to  him  by  the  church  for  the  doing  of  his 
own  private  work.  They  are  not  to  be 
looked  upon  as  an  imposition.  They  create 
no  new  obligation,  but  are  rather  helps  to 
the  Christian  in  discharging  an  obligation 
already  existing.  A  poor-fund  in  the  church, 
under  the  management  of  the  deacons,  only 
gives  him  the  opportunity,  through  what  he 
contributes  to  it,  of  more  easily  reaching 
the  poor,  whom  as  a  follower  of  Christ  he 
was  already  under  an  obligation  to  relieve. 
The  Board  or  the  committee  of  Domestic 
Missions  to  which  he  is  occasionally  asked 
to  make  a  contribution  is  only  an  interme- 
diate agent  proposing  to  aid  him  in  doing 
a  part  which  is  already  incumbent  on  him 
in  the  work  of  sending  the  gospel  to  the 
destitute. 

It  follows  from  this  that  every  church- 
member  ought  to  place  giving  to  religious 
objects  alongside  of  praying  or  communing 
at  the  Lord's  table  in  his  scheme  of  relig- 


I50  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

ious  living.  The  church  is  required  to 
present  to  God  the  spectacle  of  a  people 
*'  zealous  of  good  works  "  just  as  distinctly 
as  it  is  required  to  present  to  him  that  of  a 
people  zealous  for  devotional  rites  or  sacra- 
mental solemnities.  All  the  elements  which 
belong  to  the  principle  of  piety — such  as 
faith,  love,  gratitude,  zeal  for  God's  honor, 
and  so  on — are  brought  into  exercise  in  the 
act  of  religious  giving  as  truly  as  in  acts  of 
worship.  For  this  reason  this  act  is  prop- 
erly admitted  among  the  forms  of  worship 
practiced  in  the  public  devotions  of  the  Sab- 
bath, and  every  worshiper  should  feel  the 
same  obligation  to  join  in  it  that  he  feels  to 
take  part  in  the  prayers  and  the  psalms. 

It  is  noticeable  with  what  explicitness  the 
Scriptures  give  directions  as  to  the  per- 
formance of  this  act  of  worship.  Thus,  they 
teach,  first,  that  it  is  to  be  performed  with 
a  willing  mind :  "  God  loveth  a  cheerful 
giver  "  (2  Cor.  ix.  7)  ;  second,  that  it  is  to  be 
performed  with  a  pure  desire  to  honor  God 
and  without  any  stinting  as  to  measure :  "  He 
that  giveth  let  him  do  it  with  simplicity " 
(Rom.  xii.  8)  ;  third,  that  the  offering  is  to 


RELIGION  IN  THE   CHURCH.  IS  I 

bear  a  proportion  to  each  individual's  abil- 
ity :  "  Let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in 
store  as  God  hath  prospered  him  "  (i  Cor. 
xvi.  2)  ;  and  fourth,  that  it  should  be  per- 
formed as  a  continuous  and  systematic  ex- 
ercise, and  be  provided  for  in  advance  of 
special  occasions  by  every  man's  setting 
apart  "on  the  first  day  of  the  week  "  or  at 
regular  times  a  portion  of  his  means  for 
religious  uses.  Such  giving,  if  universally 
practiced,  would  furnish  the  church  with 
the  ability  to  carry  forward  all  its  enter- 
prises, and  would  return  a  hundred-fold 
blessing  to  the  souls  of  those  concerned 
in  it. 

V. 

It  is  clear  from  this  statement  of  his  du- 
ties that  the  church-member  needs  to  keep 
himself  informed  in  regard  to  much  that  be- 
longs to  the  economic  life  of  the  church. 

The  ignorance  which  prevails  amongst 
the  professed  followers  of  the  Lord  in 
reference  to  many  things  which  are  funda- 
mental to  their  right  religious  living  is  de- 
plorable. It  may  not  be  possible  for  every 
member  of  a  church   to   know  everything 


152  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

which  it  would  be  profitable  for  him  to 
know,  but  it  certainly  is  desirable  that 
every  one  should  possess  himself  of  all 
the  knowledge  which  is  requisite  to  give 
consistency  and  symmetry  to  his  Christian 
walk.  He  should  know  enough  of  the 
constitution  of  his  church  to  be  satisfied 
that  it  rests  upon  a  good  scriptural  and  his- 
torical warrant,  and  on  this  account  mainly 
should  conscientiously  adhere  to  it.  He 
should  know  enough  of  its  system  of  doc- 
trine, and  of  the  correspondence  of  this 
with  the  word  of  God,  to  be  enabled  intel- 
ligently to  accept  it.  He  should  know 
enough  of  its  organic  structure  to  under- 
stand the  names  and  the  functions  of  its 
various  officers  and  courts  and  to  follow  it 
in  the  working  of  its  different  departments. 
He  should  take  an  interest  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  church-councils.  He  should  ac- 
quaint himself  with  the  outlying  field  in 
which  the  church  is  called  to  work,  and 
with  the  nature  and  progress  of  the  work 
which  the  church  is  actually  doing  in  that 
field.  He  should  know  what  every  church 
agency  he  is  asked  to  support  means,  why 


RELIGION  IN  THE  CHURCH.  I  53 

it  has  been  called  into  existence  and  why 
it  claims  his  support. 

To  acquire  this  knowledge,  even  in  a 
moderate  degree,  will  of  course  demand 
some  effort  in  the  way  of  reading  and  re- 
search. Especially  it  will  require  the  aid 
of  the  religious  periodical.  The  history  of 
the  Church  from  year  to  year — almost  from 
week  to  week — is  stamped  now  upon  the 
pages  of  the  religious  newspaper  and  mag- 
azine and  spread  before  the  eyes  of  the 
world.  It  is  so  important  a  record  that  no 
honest  Christian  can  consent  to  be  io^norant 
of  it ;  it  is  so  accessible  that  there  is  hardly 
any  one  who  cannot  afford  to  possess  him- 
self of  it.  Every  church-member  should  be 
the  reader  of  a  Church  paper,  and  perhaps 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  every  church 
should  make  provision  for  supplying  with 
such  a  paper  every  member  who  is  too 
poor  to  subscribe  for  one. 

VI. 
It  may  now  be  added  that,  apart  from  his 
duty  as  a  pious  man  to  worship  God,  it  is 
incumbent  on  the  member  of  a  church,  as  a 


154  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

part  of  the  duty  which  he  owes  to  his  fel- 
low-Christians and  the  community  around 
him,  to  be  puncttial  and  regular  in  his  at- 
tendance up07i  public  worship. 

"  Not  forsaking  the  assembling  of  our- 
selves together"  is  associated  (Heb.  x.  25) 
with  the  duty  of  ''considering  one  another 
and  provoking  unto  love  and  good  works." 
The  bond  of  sympathy  is  weakened,  the 
community  of  interest  is  abated,  in  any 
congregation,  by  the  withdrawal  of  the 
countenance  and  support  of  any  of  its 
members.  Each  heart  is  kindled  into  a 
warmer  glow  by  the  presence  and  the  co- 
operation of  another  heart  that  beats  in 
unison  with  itself,  and  the  lack  of  heartiness 
which  is  manifested  by  the  professed  friends 
of  religion  when  they  fail  to  appreciate  and 
join  in  the  assemblies  of  their  brethren 
operates  just  as  decidedly  in  chilling  the 
heartiness  of  those  who  are  thus  aban- 
doned. Minister  and  people  alike  feel  ag- 
grieved by  such  an  exhibition  of  disaf- 
fection. 

When  the  professed  friends  of  religion 
can  so  lightly  esteem  its  ordinances,  what 


RELIGION  IN   THE    CHURCH.  1 55 

must  be  the  effect  upon  the  minds  of  those 
who  are  naturally  inclined  to  deny  their 
authority  ?  When  such  discrediting  of  the 
institutions  of  Christianity  is  witnessed 
among  its  avowed  adherents,  what  can  be 
expected  but  an  emboldened  opposition  to 
them  on  the  part  of  the  worldly-minded, 
and  a  general  rush  of  the  community  into 
Sabbath  desecration  and  every  other  form 
of  popular  irreligion  ? 

The  altars  of  God  are  the  bulwarks  of 
virtue  and  morality  as  well  as  of  piety,  and 
it  is  the  saddest  of  all  sights  to  see  the 
hands  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  concerned 
in  laying  them  waste.  Surely  the  woe  de- 
nounced by  the  Saviour  upon  the  man  by 
whom  an  offence  cometh  will  hano-  over  the 
head  of  the  disciple  who  so  discourages  the 
hearts  of  his  fellow-believers,  and  so  lends 
his  endorsement  to  the  profane  multitude 
who  say  of  Zion,  "  Rase  it,  rase  it,  even  to 
the  foundation  thereof!" 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

RELIGION  IN  SECULAR   LIFE. 

IMPORTANT  as  is  religion  in  the 
Church,  it  is,  if  possible,  more  import- 
ant outside  of  the  Church. 

It  is  probable  that  piety  in  the  soul  of  a 
Christian  is  cultivated  and  developed  as 
much  by  the  hard  exercise  he  has  to  under- 
go in  the  world  as  it  is  by  the  observance  of 
the  ordinances  of  the  Church,  just  as  the 
musician  is  made  by  painstaking  practice  as 
much  as  by  the  study  of  theoretical  principles. 
And  when  we  take  into  view  the  further 
duty  of  the  Christian  to  impress  the  minds 
of  worldly  persons  with  the  reality  and  the 
excellency  of  religion  as  a  governing  princi- 
ple in  a  man's  life,  the  power  must  be  drawn 
almost  entirely  from  the  evidences  which  are 
to  be  found  in  his  practical  deportment. 

Worldly  men  will  naturally  discredit  the 
claim  of  any  man   to  be  a  true  Christian 

156 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR   LIFE.  15/ 

who  does  not  show  his  religion  on  the 
plane  of  his  worldly  life.  And  the  Chris- 
tian should  take  no  exception  to  this  test. 
For  religion,  being  a  property  of  the  soul 
or  an  abiding  element  in  the  man  himself, 
must  be  expected  to  evince  its  presence 
wherever  the  man  appears  and  in  every- 
thing that  he  does.  In  the  nature  of  it,  it 
is  a  permanent,  not  an  intermittent,  force. 
It  will  demonstrate  itself  like  the  steady 
shining  of  the  diamond,  not  like  the  tran- 
sient sparkle  of  the  dewdrop.  It  must  ex- 
hibit its  power  in  all  the  circumstances,  and 
over  all  the  circumstances,  of  a  man's  life, 
in  order  to  show  that  it  is  in  itself  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  circumstance.  It 
must  reveal  itself  in  the  gait  of  a  man's 
daily  walk,  and  not  be  assumed  on  set  oc- 
casions, like  the  soldier's  measured  step  on 
parade. 

Further,  it  is  to  be  considered  that  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  every  man's  time  is  ne- 
cessarily employed  in  secular  occupations. 
It  would  be  a  singular  incongruity  if  a  su- 
preme interest  like  religion  were  to  find  a 
place  in  which  to  assert  its  claims  or  to  en- 


158  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

force  its  authority  only  in  the  minimum  of 
a  man's  Hfe.  That  which  is  enjoined  upon 
men  as  their  first  and  highest  duty  cannot 
certainly  be  thrust  away  into  a  fraction  of 
the  week,  so  as  to  be  excluded  from  the 
work  of  six  days  and  confined  to  the  formal 
exercises  of  the  Sabbath.  And,  what  is  of 
more  importance  still,  it  is  on  the  field  of 
the  world  that  religion  is  put  to  its  severest 
trials  and  is  required  to  give  the  best  proof 
of  its  celestial  origin  and  temper.  Till  it 
has  shown  itself  competent  to  maintain  its 
ground  on  this  field  it  cannot  demand  the 
confidence  of  worldly  men.  It  cannot  be 
stronger  than  its  weakest  part.  It  must 
betray  no  weak  part  on  that  side  which  is 
especially  exposed  to  the  scrutiny  of  world- 
ly men.  If  it  does,  the  whole  fabric  of  its 
pretensions  falls.  Therefore,  said  the  Sa- 
viour (Matt.  V.  16),  "let  your  light  so  shine 
before  men  that  they  may  see  your  good 
works  and  glorify  your  Father  which  is  in 
heaven." 

The  divine  lustre  of  religion  must  be 
made  to  shine  "before  men"  by  being  ex- 
hibited where  men  resort  or  in  the  public 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR   LIFE.  I  59 

thoroughfares  and  market-places.  It  must 
indicate  its  presence  and  power  by  produ- 
cing- ''good  works"  or  w^orks  which  glorify 
God  on  a  soil  where  such  works  are  not 
naturally  found,  or  it  will  fail  to  fulfill  the 
function  which  the  Author  of  it  has  assio^n- 
ed  to  it.  "  The  true  lio-ht  which  lio;hteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world  "  is 
actually  to  accomplish  that  wdiich  in  its 
nature  it  is  adapted  to  do  through  the  shin- 
ing of  the  followers  of  Christ.  The  dark- 
ness of  the  world  is  to  be  dispelled  not 
merely  by  the  teaching  of  the  preacher  or 
by  the  argument  of  the  polemic,  but  by  the 
practical  demonstration  of  the  sanctifying 
power  of  religion  afforded  by  the  living 
luminary — the  upright  and  consistent  Chris- 
tian. 

What  a  distinguished  Scotch  divine  has 
said  in  closing  a  paper  upon  modern  agnos- 
ticism is  true  of  all  the  forms  of  unbelief 
current  in  the  world:  "The  strongest  of 
all  anti-agnostic  forces — in  fact,  the  one 
great  safeguard  of  humanity  against  the 
general  or  final  triumph  of  agnosticism — 
is  none  other  than  the  redemptive  power 


l60  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

of  the  glorious  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Each  one  of  you — fathers,  brothers,  sisters 
— by  simply  so  living  as  to  show  that  re- 
ligion is  supremely  worth  believing,  may 
do  far  more  to  combat  the  spirit  whence 
agnosticism  arises  than  I  or  any  one  could 
do  by  a  merely  formal  written  attack  upon 
it.  The  grand  argument  against  anti-re- 
ligious agnosticism  is  the  practical  one  of 
a  consistent  and  vigorous  Christian  life — 
the  argument  which,  through  God's  grace, 
w^e  can  all  use." 

I. 

In  carrying  his  religion  into  secular  life, 
the  Christian  is  to  be  careful  that  it  gets, 
through  his  representation  of  it,  a  fair  show- 
i7ig  before  the  eye  of  the  world. 

This  Christ  asks  of  his  followers,  and  it  is 
all  that  he  asks.  He  does  not  expect  them 
to  improve  upon  his  doctrines  orregulations, 
but  he  does  expect  them  to  give  to  these  a 
just  setting  forth  in  their  character  and 
their  conduct.  The  style  of  manhood  which 
is  depicted  by  our  Lord  and  his  apostles  in 
their  teachings  is   unquestionably  amiable 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR    LIFE.  l6l 

and  beautiful.  In  assuming  it  human  na- 
ture is  embellished  with  every  genuine  vir- 
tue which  can  attach  to  it.  When  the 
counsel  is  given,  therefore,  in  Tit.  ii.  lo, 
that  believers  should  "  adorn  the  doctrine 
of  God  their  Saviour  in  all  things,"  the 
meaning  is,  not  that  they  should  by  any 
devices  of  their  own  strive  to  make  this 
doctrine  attractive,  but  that  they  should 
allow  it,  through  them  as  its  medium,  to 
make  a  clear  and  full  exhibition  of  the 
attractiveness  which  intrinsically  belongs 
to  it. 

God's  image  in  the  soul  is  certainly  a 
perfect  thing.  The  study  of  the  Christian 
must  be  to  express  that  image  faultlessly, 
and  to  keep  it  from  being  obscured  or 
marred  by  infirmities  of  his  own.  What- 
ever deforms  character,  as  coarseness  of 
manner,  untidiness  of  habit,  vulgarity  in 
speech,  irritability  of  temper  or  ill-breed- 
ing in  any  form,  is  at  variance  with  the 
spirit  of  the  gospel,  and  can  never  appear 
in  a  professor  of  religion  without  in  some 
degree  doing  damage  to  the  credit  of  re- 
ligion.     The    morbid   distempers    and    the 


1 62  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

offensive  obliquities  to  which  a  man  may 
be  naturally  disposed  or  to  which  he  has 
become  addicted  are  in  the  case  of  the 
Christian  more  than  blemishes  in  the  man: 
they  are  so  many  blots  on  the  good  name 
of  Christianity,  and  will  be  noted  by  the 
enemies  of  religion  as  so  many  evidences 
of  its  being  a  pretension  rather  than  a 
divine  power  in  the  soul.  The  censorious 
eyes  of  the  world  are  at  all  times  upon  the 
follower  of  Christ,  and  a  merciless  rigor  of 
judgment  will  be  applied  by  it  to  his  most 
trivial  acts.  It  becomes  him,  therefore,  to 
remember  the  ordeal  to  which  he  is  ex- 
posed and  in  every  phase  of  his  life  and. 
conduct,  jealously  to  maintain  "  a  good  re- 
port with  them  which  are  without." 

If  religion  does  not  improve  the  nature 
of  a  man,  it  will  have  to  bear,  at  the  bar  of 
public  opinion,  the  reproach  of  all  the  faults 
which  adhere  to  it.  The  crooked  limb  may 
have  been  in  the  vine  originally ;  but  if 
religion  does  not  prune  it  off,  religion  will 
be  charged  with  its  existence.  Hence  the 
Scriptures  descend  to  such  minuteness  in 
portraying  the  Christian  life  as  to  denounce 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR    LIFE.  1 63 

such  characters  as  the  "busybody"  and  the 
'*  brawler,"  and  to  forbid  such  things  as 
"  filthlness,"  "  foolish  talking"  and  "jesting" 
as  things  "which  are  not  convenient" — that 
is,  not  suitable  to  the  Christian.  "  Be  piti- 
ful," "Be  gentle,"  "  Be  courteous,"  are  coun- 
sels which  they  continually  reiterate.  Relig- 
ion is  a  refiner's  fire  in  reference  to  the 
outward  man  as  well  as  to  the  Inward.  St. 
Paul  has  brought  honor  to  Christianity  by 
his  delicate  sensibility  and  his  gentlemanly 
bearing,  as  well  as  by  the  breadth  and  power 
of  his  expositions  of  truth.  The  separate- 
ness  from  the  world  which  the  gospel  en- 
joins does  not  mean  the  abandonment  of 
the  decencies  of  life  nor  the  amenities  of 
society,  and  no  follower  of  Christ  can  dis- 
reoard  them  in  his  intercourse  with  his  fel- 
low-men  without  Injuring  the  religion  which 
he  represents  in  the  same  way  and  to  the 
same  extent  as  "dead  flies"  are  said  (Eccl. 
X.  i)  to  corrupt  "the  ointment  of  the  apoth- 
ecary." 

II. 
To  this  suoforestion  it  ouo^ht  to  be  added 
that  religion  is  not  to  be  recominended  to  the 


164  FOLLOWING    CILRIST. 

woidd  by  any  ostentatious  modes  of  demonstra- 
tion. 

The  man  who  is  seeking  to  advertise 
himself  or  get  credit  to  himself  as  a  pro- 
fessor of  religion,  is  sacrificinor  the  honor  of 
religion  in  order  to  honor  himself.  Unsea- 
sonably introduced  or  offensively  obtruded, 
religion  fails  to  command  the  respect  which 
the  follower  of  Christ  should  always  aim  to 
draw  to  it.  Sincerity,  consistency  and  good 
sense  are  what  the  shrewd  men  of  the  world 
expect  to  find  in  a  Christian,  and  what  they 
have  a  right  to  expect.  These  forbid  the 
use  of  any  factitious  methods  or  any  appear- 
ance of  study  or  any  resort  to  the  arts  of 
display  in  the  practice  of  religion.  Any 
peculiarity  which  gives  a  man  the  air  of  one 
playing  a  part  will  awaken  a  suspicion  as 
to  his  integrity,  and  in  the  case  of  religion 
will  give  occasion  to  its  adversaries  to  brand 
the  system  itself  as  an  imposture.  It  is  by 
depicting  so-called  religious  characters  un- 
der this  form — as  thrusting  their  piety  for- 
ward in  grotesque  and  unseemly  ways,  or 
as  hanging  out  the  badges  of  their  religion 
in   circumstances   in   which   these   have   no 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR  LIFE.  1 65 

place,  or  as  indulging  in  unreal  cant — that 
some  of  the  writers  of  popular  literature 
have  sought  to  bring  religion  generally 
into  discredit  and  contempt. 

The  truly  religious  man  will  act  relig- 
iously, if  I  may  so  express  it,  without  think- 
ing of  what  he  is  doing,  or  at  least  without 
giving  the  public  any  advertisement  of  the 
fact.  He  will  be  simply  himself;  which  is 
to  be  the  religious  man.  Except  on  special 
occasions,  it  will  be  by  indirect  rather  than 
by  direct  methods  that  he  will  affirm  his 
religion.  In  performing  an  act  of  faith  he 
will  not  sound  a  trumpet  before  him,  as  the 
hypocrites  do.  He  will  do  it  because  his 
thought  is  on  God,  who  seeth  in  secret,  not 
on  himself  or  his  fellow-man.  He  will  strive 
to  please  all  men  so  far  as  he  can  do  this 
consistently  with  fidelity  to  God ;  and  when 
he  has  to  offend  any,  he  will  do  it  in  such  a 
way  as  obliges  them  to  see  that  he  cannot 
please  them  without  offending  God. 

III. 
Men  of  the  world  will  always  put  facts 
before  theories  or  professions.     The  Chris- 


1 66  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

tian  must  offer  facts  in  verification  of  his  claim 
to  be  a  religious  man. 

On  the  stage  of  secular  life  these  must  be 
facts  of  a  secular  sort.  In  regard  to  the 
great  majority  of  men,  their  secular  occu- 
pations are  made  up  of  the  handling  and 
making  of  money,  and  in  their  case  the  use 
of  money  becomes  the  index  of  character. 
The  desire  for  money,  as  every  one  knows, 
is  apt  to  become  an  inordinate  passion, 
blighting  the  more  generous  affections  of 
the  sou^  and  converting  the  man  into  the 
mere  cold  lover  of  self.  Every  one  knows, 
too,  that  the  mere  accumulation  of  money 
is  in  itself  a  childish,  not  to  say  ignoble,  end 
for  a  rational  being  to  set  before  him.  The 
love  of  money  in  its  grossest  form  makes 
the  miser,  and  the  miser  is  universally  re- 
garded as  a  despicable  character.  The 
spirit  of  the  miser  is  in  every  man  who 
makes  money-getting,  without  regard  to 
the  use  of  it,  the  supreme  object  of  his 
life  and  the  supreme  source  of  his  enjoy- 
ment. That  spirit  even  the  world  brands 
as  disloyalty  to  the  better  instincts  of  hu- 
man nature.      How  much  more  flagrantly 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR   LIFE.  1 6/ 

must  it  appear  in  the  case  of  the  Christian 
to  be  disloyal  to  God ! 

The  professor  of  religion  is  bound,  there- 
fore, to  throw  into  his  pursuit  of  wealth  a 
moderation  of  temper  which  the  policy  of 
the  world  does  not  require.  Though  stand- 
ing side  by  side  with  the  mere  money-get- 
ter in  this  pursuit,  he  must  show  that  he  is 
animated  by  a  different  motive,  and  that  his 
love  to  God  is  a  stronger  principle  than  his 
desire  for  money.  His  position  as  a  party 
to  this  pursuit  is  not  wrong.  Ocqupation 
is  one  of  the  conditions  of  man's  well-being, 
and  occupation  aims  at  results  which  are 
conveniently  represented  by  money.  It  is 
right  for  the  religious  man  to  seek  wealth, 
but  not  simply  for  wealth's  sake.  In  its 
proper  place  it  is  a  means  for  satisfying  his 
needs,  gratifying  his  wholesome  tastes  and 
enlarging  his  capacity  for  serving  God  by 
serving  his  generation.  It  would  seem  to 
be  a  reasonable  proposition  that  a  man's 
desire  for  money  ought  to  be  regulated 
and  limited  by  his  desire  for  that  which 
money  enables  him  to  do,  and  that  when 
this   latter  desire  has   been   fully  provided 


1 68  FOLLOWING    CHRIST, 

for  the  former  one  ought  to  cease  to 
operate. 

Would  it  not  be  a  stronof  illustration  of 
the  power  of  religious  principle  if  the  Chris- 
tian were  some  time  to  be  seen  stopping  in 
his  pursuit  of  wealth  and  saying,  "  I  have 
enough,"  and  devoting  the  residue  of  his 
life,  as  a  sort  of  Sabbath-resting  after  his 
toils,  to  such  occupations  as  directly  minis- 
ter to  the  cause  of  benevolence  and  relig- 
ion ?  The  Church  needs  just  such  men  of 
opulence  and  leisure  to  fill  its  offices,  and 
the  world  wants  them  to  carry  on  its 
schemes  of  reform  and  charity. 

Or  if  an  escape  from  the  habits  and  the 
implications  of  business  be  an  impossibility, 
what  is  to  hinder  the  reliorious  man  to  whom 
God  has  oiven  enouo^h  for  all  his  own  wants 
from  making  God,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  a 
partner  in  his  future  operations  and  pros- 
ecuting his  business  and  o-atherino-  in  his 
o-ains  in  the  interest  of  God  and  for  the 
furtherance  of  his  kino-dom  ?  Instances 
have  occurred  where  men  have  so  made 
themselves  literally  the  stewards  of  God, 
illustriously  showing  that  riches,  which  the 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR   LIFE.  1 69 

Saviour  declared  to  be  so  generally  a  fatal 
bar  in  the  path  to  heaven,  may  be  converted 
into  the  golden  stairway  which  leads  the 
possessor  directly  into  it. 

If  cupidity  of  disposition  is  to  be  avoided 
by  the  Christian,  I  may  now  remark  more 
emphatically,  i\n  dishonesty  in  practice  is 
to  be  avoided  by  him.  The  world  never 
forgives  an  act  of  fraud,  and,  we  may  say, 
n^Y^v  forgets  it;  A  pecuniary  loss  inflicted 
on  one  man  by  another  is  a  wrong  which 
rankles  longest  in  the  memory  of  the  in- 
jured party  and  is  the  hardest  to  be  con- 
doned by  the  offender.  On  this  account 
the  professor  of  religion  should  look  upon 
the  contractinor  of  a  debt  as  an  act  which 

o 

brings  him  into  fearful  proximity  to  the 
region  of  possible  dishonesty.  The  im- 
periling of  the  rights  of  others  by  any 
presumptuous  adventure  in  business,  or  a 
resort  to  equivocal  measures  to  escape  a 
just  obligation  to  others,  or  a  complicity 
in  any  of  the  other  thousand  forms  of 
loose  practice  or  sharp  practice  which  are 
current  in  the  world,  should  be  repelled 
from  his  thought  by  the  follower  of  Christ 


I/O  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

as  promptly  as  his  Master  repelled  the 
suggestion  of  the  devil  that  he  should  cast 
himself  from  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  in 
the  expectation  that  the  angels  would  pro- 
tect him  from  harm. 

The  religion  of  Christ  has  no  more  effect- 
ive enemy  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  per- 
son of  the  professor  who  has  suffered  his 
name  to  become  blackened  with  an  impu- 
tation of  dishonesty.  The  Church  is  every- 
where bleeding  from  the  wounds  inflicted 
by  its  false  or  heedless  members  w4io  have 
been  betrayed  into  wrong-doing  by  their 
intemperate  lust  for  gain. 

IV. 
Afflictions,  troubles  and  disappointments 
fill  so  large  a  part  of  the  ordinary  life  of 
men  that  they  constitute  a  common  ground 
upon  which  the  Christian  and  the  man  of 
the  world  may  meet  and  compare  their 
principles.  It  is  to  be  expected  that  relig- 
ion will  show  its  power  by  affording  to  the 
possessor  of  it  some  advantage  which  the 
irreligious  man  does  not  possess  under 
the  pressure  of  these  painful  experiences. 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR  LIFE.  I/I 

Apart  from  religion  there  are  no  resources 
accessible  to  men  in  their  times  of  adver- 
sity but  such  as  are  found  in  fortitude  or 
the  passive  acceptance  of  the  inevitable,  in 
the  diversion  of  mind  afforded  by  occupation, 
in  the  promises  of  hope  or  in  the  soothing 
influences  of  time.  These  are  as  open  to 
the  Christian  as  they  are  to  others,  but  in 
his  case  faith  supplies  additional  and  im- 
measurably superior  solaces  and  sup- 
ports. 

It  does  not  promise  himi  exemption  from 
the  tribulations  which  are  common  to  all 
men,  but  it  does  profess  to  give  him  a  mas- 
tery over  the  tribulations  of  the  world  to 
which  men  naturally  cannot  attain.  Men 
of  the  world  have,  therefore,  a  right  to 
watch  the  deportment  of  the  Christian 
under  the  discipline  of  sorrow,  and  to  de- 
mand from  him  in  the  trying  exigences  of  life 
the  evidence  of  a  power  in  his  principles  to 
sustain  him  of  which  they,  in  their  lack  of 
faith,  are  destitute. 

Much  may  be  done  for  the  honor  of 
Christ  by  his  followers  in  such  testing- 
times  by  maintaining  a  temper  and  a  de- 


1/2  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

meanor  in  harmony  with  the  doctrines  and 
the  promises  of  the  gospel.  The  pain  which 
accompanies  misfortune  in  any  form,  the 
anguish  of  a  bereaved  heart  or  the  stun- 
ning effect  of  a  commercial  catastrophe  are 
experiences  which  irreligious  men  under- 
stand as  well  as  religious  ones,  and  any  ad- 
vantage possessed  by  the  latter  in  these  cir- 
cumstances is  something  which  the  former 
are  capable  of  appreciating.  It  is  a  good 
time,  therefore,  to  glorify  God  before  an 
unbelieving  world  when  the  believer  is  ''  in 
the  fires."  It  is  his  privilege  as  well  as  his 
duty  so  to  conduct  himself  under  the  re- 
verses of  life  that  his  neighbors  shall  see 
that  a  divine  Comforter  is  with  him  in  the 
furnace. 

The  annals  of  the  Church,  from  the  times 
of  the  apostles  down,  are  full  of  testimonials 
to  the  power  of  religion  to  brace  the  soul 
with  couraore  in  the  face  of  dangers  before 
which  nature  quails,  and  to  make  it  patient 
under  sufferings  against  which  nature  re- 
volts ;  but  each  generation  and  each  com- 
munity calls  for  daily  living  attestations  of 
this  power  to  meet  the  daily  living  skepti- 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR    LIFE.  1 73 

cism  of  the  world.  Each  follower  of  Christ, 
in  passing  through  his  own  "  valley  of  weep- 
ing," should  be  ready  to  give  such  testi- 
mony to  the  abiding  faithfulness  and  the 
sufficient  erace  of  his  Lord.  To  be  able 
to  give  it  when  the  demand  for  it  arises 
which  may  come  suddenly,  it  is  necessary 
the  Christian  should  habitually  live  in  near 
fellowship  with  God.  It  is  when  the  eye 
has  been  familiar  with  Christ  by  day  that 
the  hand  can  find  him  in  the  darkness  of 
the  niorht.  It  is  the  heart  that  has  carried 
in  it  the  essence  of  faith  and  love  in  its 
sound  state  that  will,  when  broken  by 
adversity, 

"  like  the  plants  that  throw 
Their  fragrance  from  the  wounded  part, 
Breathe  sweetness  out  of  woe." 

V. 

It  is  equally  incumbent  on  the  Christian 
to  prove  to  the  world  that  in  virtue  of  his 
religion  he  is  superior  to  the  deterioratmg- 
influences  of  prospe7'ity. 

These  influences  are  perhaps  even  more 
dangerous  to  a  Christian's  steadfastness 
than    are   those    of  adversity.      To    be    in 


174  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

possession  of  that  which  worldly  men  wor- 
ship with  an  idolatrous  love,  and  yet  to 
keep  himself  free  from  this  idolatrous  love, 
is  the  hard  task  set  before  the  wealthy  fol- 
lower of  Christ.  It  is  the  exhibition  of  a 
radical  distinction  between  him  and  worldly 
men  which  the  latter  are  bound  to  notice. 
It  is  like  the  proof  of  his  religious  principle 
which  Daniel  gave  when  he  turned  away 
from  the  provision  of  the  king's  meat  and 
wine  which  was  offered  him  and  chose  to 
subsist  upon  pulse  and  water.  To  keep 
this  proof  always  clearly  revealed  to  the 
eyes  of  his  fellow-men  in  his  daily  inter- 
course with  them  is  the  duty  of  the  religious 
man,  and  it  is  a  duty  which  should  remind 
him  that  if  he  needs  divine  grace  to  keep 
him  from  fault  in  the  acquisition  of  wealth 
he  needs  it  just  as  much  to  enable  him  to 
maintain  his  integrity  in  the  use  of  it. 

There  are  two  obvious  ways  in  which 
prosperity  may  lead  the  Christian  into  a 
departure  from  his  principles.  The  first 
grows  out  of  the  fact  that  wealth  gives  im- 
portance to  the  possessor  of  it.  The  nat- 
ural result  of  this  fact  is  that  he  should  be- 


RELIGION   IN  SECULAR    LIFE.  1 75 

come  inflated  with  a  sense  of  his  importance. 
The  second  follows  upon  the  other  fact — 
that  wealth  presents  to  the  possessor  of  it 
the  means  of  indefinite  indulgence.  The 
natural  effect  of  this  fact  is  to  excite  love  of 
indulgence.  A  sense  of  one's  importance 
is,  of  course,  a  magnifying  of  self;  and  as 
self  engrosses  the  contemplation  of  the 
mind  other  objects  recede,  until  all  affinity 
with  them  is  lost  sight  of  and  the  man  with- 
draws into  a  condition  of  cold  isolation. 

Let  the  prosperous  Christian  guard 
against  this  natural  propensity.  Let  him 
show  that  wealth  has  not  blunted  or  con- 
tracted his  sympathy  with  his  kind,  and 
that  his  heart  has  not  become  encased  in 
the  gold  which  his  hands  have  gathered. 
The  follower  of  Christ  must  exhibit  before 
the  world  the  grand  spectacle  of  a  man 
who,  while  he  is  lifted  by  his  riches  above 
participation  in  the  wants  of  the  multitudes 
below  him,  still  cherishes  with  special  care 
the  Christian  charities  which  make  these 
wants  an  object  of  personal  interest.  The 
other  danger — that  of  an  excessive  devo- 
tion to  the  indulgences  which  wealth  places 


176  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

within  the  reach  of  its  possessor — is  one 
which  the  Christian  needs  perhaps  stih 
more  carefully  to  avoid. 

This  duty  leads  us  to  a  consideration  of 
the  difficult  and  delicate  question,  How  far 
may  the  professor  of  religion  indulge,  with- 
out detriment  to  his  own  spiritual  well-be- 
ing and  the  honor  of  religion,  in  what  are 
designated  by  the  comprehensive  term 
'' worldly  amusements  "  ?  This  question  is 
one  which,  in  a  pleasure-loving  age  like 
the  present,  is  sure  to  force  itself  upon  the 
attention  of  every  one  embarking  in  a  re- 
ligious life.  It  seems  entirely  reasonable 
to  say  that  in  order  that  a  Christian  may 
lawfully  indulge  in  these  amusements  it  is 
necessary  that  he  should  be  well  assured 
that  in  doing  so  he  is  not  breaking  down 
that  line  of  separation  which  he  is  required 
always  to  make  manifest  between  himself 
and  the  mere  man  of  the  world.  In  deter- 
mining this  point  it  may  aid  him  to  reflect 
upon  the  following  facts. 

First.  That  the  very  prevalent  argument 
that  because  religion  was  designed  to  make 
people   cheerful    and    happy,   and   because 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR    LIEE.  1 77 

worldly  amusements  are  expressly  em- 
ployed to  produce  this  effect,  therefore 
religious  people  may  properly  indulge  in 
these  amusements,  is  a  fallacy.  It  forgets 
that  the  Christian  religion  defines  cheerful- 
ness  and  happiness  at  the  same  time  that 
it  sanctions  them.  It  does  not  resign  its 
authority  when  it  approaches  the  realms  of 
pleasure.  Here,  as  in  all  other  departments 
of  conduct,  it  has  some  limits  to  fix  and 
some  distinctions  to  draw.  Its  law  pre- 
scribes the  ways  in  which  men  are  to  be 
cheerful  and  happy,  as  well  as  all  their 
other  ways  of  acting.  When  it  invites 
them  to  rejoice,  it  surely  does  not  send 
them  to  an  ungodly  world  to  learn  how 
they  are  to  rejoice.  The  follower  of 
Christ  is  bound  to  follow  him — that  is,  to 
follow  his  direction — as  much  in  his  amuse- 
ments as  in  anything  else.  Christ  has  never 
given  authority  to  society  to  direct  his  fol- 
lowers. By  a  certain  portion  of  society  the 
bacchanalian  revel  and  the  excitement  of 
the  gaming-table  are  regarded  as  sources 
of  cheerfulness  and  happiness.  Is  it  to  be 
supposed  that  Christ  would  bid  his  follow- 

12 


178  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

ers  take  part  in  these  amusements  ?  Who 
will  say  so  ? 

Second.  That  the  plea — which  is  also  very 
frequently  urged  —  that  what  everybody 
does  it  must  be  right  for  the  Christian  to 
do,  since  it  cannot  be  required  of  him  to 
make  himself  singular  or  to  banish  himself 
from  society,  is  equally  fallacious.  This 
argument  will  be  a  good  one  when  every- 
body studies  in  everything  to  follow  Christ. 
But  surely  it  cannot  be  a  safe  rule  for  the 
Christian  to  do  as  the  community  does 
when  that  community,  to  a  large  extent, 
openly  denies  Christ  and  repudiates  his 
right  to  control  and  guide  it.  The  Chris- 
tian's rule  clearly  requires  him  distinctively 
to  differ  from  such  a  community. 

Third.  That  worldly  amusements,  in  the 
well-understood  sense  of  that  term,  mean 
forms  of  pleasure  which  have  been  invented 
by  the  world.  They  are  not  home-born  to 
the  Christian,  but  are  imported  from  a 
foreign  soil.  They  do  not  belong  even  to 
that  general  economy  under  which  God 
in  his  goodness  has  spread  out,  as  it  were, 
a    banquet    for  all    his    children   to   enjoy. 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR   LIFE.  1 79 

They  are  something  which  the  cravings  of 
men  have  superadded  to  that  banquet. 
They  are  the  product  of  a  worldly  mind, 
suited  to  a  worldly  taste.  The  agents  who 
have  originated  them  and  who  preside  over 
them  are  not  the  representatives  of  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

The  radical  difference  between  the  Chris- 
tian and  the  votary  of  these  worldly  amuse- 
ments appears  in  this — that  there  can  be 
no  reciprocity  in  their  enjoyments.  In  his 
association  with  the  worldly  man  in  his 
amusements  the  Christian  makes  a  con- 
cession which  the  worldly  man  will  not 
reciprocate.  The  former  is  expected  to 
affiliate  with  the  latter,  but  the  latter  never 
affiliates  with  the  former.  No  one  would 
dream  of  seeing  a  frequenter  of  the  theatre 
or  of  the  race-course  going  with  the  Chris- 
tian neighbor  who  had  been  induced  to  ac- 
company him  to  those  places  of  amusement 
to  attend  the  prayer-meeting  or  the  relig- 
ious assembly  which  that  neighbor  must  be 
supposed  to  love  to  attend.  The  professor 
of  religion  must  drop  his  distinctive  charac- 
ter just  in   the  measure  that  he  identifies 


l8o  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

himself  with  those  who  are  so  ahen  to  him 
in  disposition  and  in  taste.  He  must  be- 
come Hke  those  who  cannot  become  hke 
him  ;  which  is  certainly  very  much  the  same 
thing  as  ceasing  to  act  as  a  Christian. 

The  primitive  Christians  had  been  ac- 
customed, many  of  them,  in  their  uncon- 
verted days,  to  attend  the  gladiatorial  shows 
in  which  men  slaughtered  one  another  for 
the  entertainment  of  the  spectators.  These 
shows  formed  one  of  the  worldly  amuse- 
ments of  the  age.  They  had  been  invented 
to  give  pleasure  to  a  brutal  appetite.  When 
converted,  these  Christians  knew  that  this 
amusement  had  never  been  sanctioned  by 
their  divine  Master,  and  knew  that  in  coun- 
tenancing it  they  were  compromising  their 
character  as  followers  of  Christ  and  throw- 
ing themselves  into  the  ranks  of  his  ene- 
mies. They  abandoned  them,  and  it  is 
said  that  through  their  opposition  the  bar- 
barous sport  was  finally  abolished. 

Foui^th.  That  worldly  amusements  are 
extreme  forms  in  which  the  love  of  pleasure 
seeks  to  gratify  itself.  They  are  intemper- 
ate indulgences,  as  distinguished  from  tem- 


RELIGION-  IN  SECULAR   LIEE.  l8l 

perate  ones.  Now,  intemperance  or  a  tend- 
ency to  go  to  an  extreme  in  the  gratifica- 
tion of  one's  appetites  is  an  evidence  of 
a  derangement  in  nature.  It  shows  that 
what  ouorht  to  be  a  wholesome  cravinor  for 
pleasure  has  become  a  feverish  thirst.  The 
world  says  that  this  thirst  must  be  satisfied, 
and  invents  pleasures  for  the  purpose  of 
satisfying  it.  Religion  says  that  this  tend- 
ency of  a  deranged  nature  must  be  re- 
sisted. It  opposes  the  law  of  moderation 
to  the  law  of  excess.  As  has  been  stated 
in  a  former  paragraph,  the  Christian  is  re- 
quired, even  in  the  indulgence  of  sorrow, 
to  put  limits  to  the  expression  of  his  grief, 
and  to  avoid  the  extremes  of  despondency 
and  woe.  And  shall  not  religion  equally 
set  bounds  to  his  hilarity?  Can  he  law- 
fully run  to  the  extremes  to  which  nature 
would  lead  him  in  this  direction  when  he  is 
forbidden  to  do  so  in  the  other?  Surely 
the  conscientious  Christian  ought  to  feel 
debarred  from  following  an  unbelieving 
world  into  the  regions  of  pleasure  by  the 
same  principle  which  restrains  him  from 
abandoning  himself,  as  nature  leads  worldly 


1 82  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

men  to  do,  to  the  sway  of  a  hopeless  sor- 
row. Self-denial  in  either  case  is  demanded 
of  the  follower  of  Christ  for  Christ's  sake. 

Fifth.  That  the  character  of  worldly 
amusements  is  to  be  estimated  very  much 
by  the  concomitants  which  they  gather 
around  them. 

In  its  simple  form  an  amusement  may  be 
admitted  to  be  innocent,  and  yet,  from  the 
incidents  which  are  invariably  associated 
with  it,  may  be  altogether  objectionable. 
This  test  is  particularly  applicable  to  the 
theatre.  ''  What  greater  harm,"  it  is  often 
asked,  "  can  there  be  in  seeing  the  drama 
of  Hamlet  personated  on  the  stage  by 
gifted  actors  than  in  reading  it  in  Shake- 
speare's works  ?"  Could  the  former  exer- 
cise be  kept  free  from  corrupting  adjuncts, 
as  the  latter  is,  the  answer  might  be  "  No 
greater."  The  Christian  may  read  Hamlet 
as  an  intellectual  entertainment  without 
detriment  to  his  religious  state.  The  ex- 
hibition of  Hamlet  on  the  stage,  however, 
is  given  for  the  purpose  of  deriving  a  pe- 
cuniary profit  from  the  attendance  of  the 
public.      The  public  indiscriminately  must 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR   LIFE.  1 83 

be  attracted.  The  species  of  the  attraction 
employed  is  a  secondary  matter  provided 
the  end  can  be  reached — that  of  drawing  to- 
gether a  paying  crowd.  Mere  intellectual 
gratification  would  not  seem  to  be  sufficient 
to  secure  on  a  large  enough  scale  the  desired 
attendance,  and  therefore  attractions  of 
other  sorts — some  of  them  unquestionably 
of  a  vicious  tendency — must  be  associated 
with  the  exhibition. 

Friendly  to  virtue  as  the  advocates  of 
the  playhouse  would  make  it,  they  must 
admit  that  in  the  adjuncts  which  seem  to 
be  inseparable  from  it  it  is  utterly  demor- 
alizing. The  same  test  should  be  applied 
to  the  solution  of  the  question  as  to  the 
right  of  the  professor  of  religion  to  engage 
in  the  fashionable  dance  and  the  dancing- 
party. 

This  is  a  question  which  will  almost  cer- 
tainly demand  the  consideration  of  the 
young  Christian.  Granting  that  in  itself 
dancing  is  a  harmless  exercise,  and  that 
in  its  simpler  forms  social  dancing  does  not 
differ  from  other  recreations  in  which  both 
sexes    participate,    it    may    still    on    good 


1 84  FOLLOWING   CHRIST, 

s^rounds  be  urged  that  the  concomitants 
which  have  become  attached  to  It  In  ordi- 
nary practice  have  placed  it  In  that  category 
of  dissipated  and  extravagant  pleasures  in 
which  the  religious  man  cannot  consistently 
indulge.  As  society  employs  and  patron- 
izes it — as  a  cultivated  and  elaborate  art, 
as  an  occupation  Involving  a  necessity  for 
ostentatious  dressing,  for  luxurious  festiv- 
ity, for  promiscuous  association,  for  the 
consumption  of  time  In  preparation  for 
and  recovery  from  the  period  of  revelry 
and  for  risk  to  bodily  health ;  as  an  amuse- 
ment carrying  along  with  it  all  the  adjuncts 
of  the  modern  ball — through  its  surround- 
ings, dancing  has  become  an  entertainment 
so  essentially  worldly  that  the  Christian 
must  apparently  take  leave  of  his  distinct- 
ive character  in  taking  part  In  It.  It  Is  a 
wise  rule  in  regard  to  customs  as  well  as 
men  to  judge  them  by  the  company  they 
keep. 

Sixth.  That  the  enjoyment  derived  from 
these  worldly  amusements  is  purchased  at 
an  immense  cost.  This  cost  appears  in 
the  loss  which  the  pursuit  of  them  entails 


RELIGION  IN  SECULAR   LIFE.  1 85 

of  a  capacity  to  relish  other  enjoyments. 
False  appetites  or  those  which  have  been 
forced  upon  nature  are  stronger  than  those 
which  originally  belong  to  nature,  and  in 
proportion  as  they  are  indulged  blunt  and 
enfeeble  the  latter.  Devotion  to  novel- 
reading  thus  unfits  a  person  to  relish 
soberer  and  sounder  literature.  The  Chris- 
tian who  suffers  his  heart  to  come  under 
the  fascinations  of  worldly  pleasure  will 
dearly  pay  for  the  license  he  has  allowed 
himself.  From  the  numbness  which  these 
will  infuse  into  his  higher  spiritual  nature, 
he  will  find  himself  disqualified  in  a  large 
measure  for  pure  intellectual  enjoyment, 
and  in  a  still  larger  measure  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  peculiar  pleasures  which  re- 
ligion offers  to  the  genuine  living  believer. 
His  deadened  sensibilities  will  no  more  re- 
spond to  the  promptings  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
devout  meditation  will  become  a  weariness, 
prayer  will  decline  into  a  heartless  form,  and 
the  Scriptures  will  cease  to  be  vocal  with 
the  messages  of  God. 

The  conclusion  to  which  a  fair  inspection 
of  these  worldly  amusements  would  lead  a 


1 86  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

dispassionate  mind  would  seem  to  be  this 
— that  the  follower  of  Christ  is  required, 
under  the  most  favorable  view  he  can  take 
of  them,  to  lay  down  the  rule,  ''  I  will  in- 
dulge in  them  with  strict  moderation,  or 
within  such  bounds  as  may  be  compatible 
with  my  spiritual  well-being;"  and  if,  upon 
experiment,  he  finds  that  moderation  is  im- 
possible in  the  case,  or  that  even  with  it 
these  worldly  amusements  are  unfriendly 
to  his  religious  comfort  and  progress,  he 
ought  to  say,  "  I  will  altogether  refrain 
from  indulging  in  them."  Probably  it  is 
just  here  on  this  ground,  where  the  world 
is  addressing  its  most  plausible  and  seduc- 
tive solicitations  to  the  Church,  that  the 
dividing-line  between  the  Church  and  the 
world  needs  to  be  most  sharply  drawn. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

RELIGION  IN   THE   FAMILY. 

SO  much  of  the  real,  genuine  hfe  of  a 
man  is  brought  into  exercise  and  into 
light  in  the  sphere  of  the  family  that  per- 
haps it  would  not  be  extravagant  to  say 
that  this  sphere  is  the  crucial  one  for  the 
follower  of  Christ. 

If  a  man  be  a  religious  man,  he  will  cer- 
tainly demonstrate  the  fact  at  home.  If 
there  he  fails  to  exemplify  that  character, 
he  leaves  all  other  evidences  of  it,  to  say 
the  least,  open  to  suspicion. 

The  family  was  the  first  sanctuary  in 
which  religion  had  a  visible  birth  and  in 
which  it  took  form  and  voice — the  shrine 
from  which  divine  oracles  addressed  the 
soul  in  advance  of  the  prophets'  inspired 
utterances.  In  its  very  organization — in 
the  relations  it  creates  and  the  offices  it 
institutes — it  seems  to  be  an  earthly  pat- 

187 


1 88  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

tern  of  a  heavenly  economy  or  kingdom 
which  God  has  been  pleased  to  designate 
as  his  "house,"  and  in  which  he  appears  as 
presiding  as  Head  over  all  the  inmates  and 
gathering  them  under  his  wings  as  his  chil- 
dren. The  typology  of  the  family  is  so 
religious  that  if  religion  be  absent  from  it, 
it  seems  as  if  its  essential  element  were 
wantinor.  The  fact  of  God's  fatherhood 
toward  men  is  mirrored  in  every  spectacle 
of  a  human  parent  looking  down  with  lov- 
ing watchfulness  upon  his  little  household 
flock,  and  the  reciprocal  obligation  on  the 
part  of  men  to  acknowledge  this  fatherhood 
is  symbolized  wherever  the  flock  is  seen 
looking  up  with  trusting  eyes  to  the  pa- 
rent's guardian  care. 

The  interests  of  the  home-life,  too,  are 
of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  it  almost  in- 
dispensable that  God  should  be  acknowl- 
edged and  depended  upon  by  the  family. 
They  impose  upon  each  member  the  charge 
of  the  well-being  of  every  other  member — 
a  charge  which  in  the  exercise  of  it  involves 
an  indefinite  amount  of  the  tenderest  solici- 
tude and  calls  for  a  measure  of  power  and 


RELIGION  IN   THE   FAMILY.  1 89 

wisdom  which  transcends  the  resources  of 
man.  A  family  without  God  in  it  is  in  a 
condition  Hke  that  of  the  household  from 
which  the  literal  head  is  absent.  At  every 
turn  it  is  reminded  of  its  need  of  his  pres- 
ence. It  is  painfully  incomplete  without 
him.  In  the  world  men  may  do  without 
God ;  they  cannot  do  without  him  at  home. 
Things  which  may  be  divorced  from  him  as 
they  are  regarded  in  the  place  of  business 
are  necessarily  associated  with  him  when 
surveyed  in  the  atmosphere  of  home-life. 
Bankruptcy  means  loss  of  property  on  the 
exchange  ;  it  means  the  loss  of  bread  in 
the  presence  of  wife  and  children.  The 
fear  of  it  in  the  former  place  stimulates  to 
exertion  ;  in  the  latter  it  extorts  the  prayer, 
"  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread."  Sick- 
ness and  death  may  occur  in  the  community 
around  us,  and  we  accept  them  as  the  in- 
evitable results  of  the  law  of  nature.  They 
enter  our  doors,  and,  though  it  be  an  infant 
who  is  the  victim,  every  hand  is  raised,  as 
it  were,  in  resistance,  and  every  voice  in- 
vokes the  aid  of  a  power  above  nature 
and  cries,  "  God  be  merciful  to  the  child !" 


190  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

Nowhere  does  God  touch  us  so  closely 
or  make  us  so  conscious  of  our  dependence 
upon  him  as  in  die  sphere  of  these  home- 
interests,  and  nowhere,  probably,  outside 
of  his  Bible,  can  the  Christian  find  a  volume 
so  adapted  to  foster  and  train  his  religious 
sentiments  and  principles  as  that  which  he 
may  find  in  his  home-experiences. 

And  surely,  I  may  add,  if  the  desire  to 
win  others  to  Christ  be  a  natural  feature 
in  the  mind  of  a  true  believer,  he  will  be 
constrained  to  evince  it  most  conspicuously 
in  his  intercourse  with  those  who  are  loved 
by  him  as  he  loves  his  own  soul.  If  a  man's 
religion  is  to  be  a  light  anywhere,  ought  it 
not  to  be  such  at  the  central  point  of  his 
world,  and  in  that  little  domestic  circle  with 
which  his  life  is  naturally  bound  up  ?  The 
force  of  the  obligation  to  make  a  faithful, 
and  at  the  same  time  an  attractive,  exhi- 
bition of  piety  here  is  simply  incalculable. 
This  consideration  is  sustained  by  the 
further  thought  that  if  a  Christian  in  his 
family  is  not  making  an  impression  favor- 
able to  religion,  he  is  in  all  likelihood  do- 
ing a  positive  injury  to  it.     The  home  is 


RELIGION  IN   THE    FAMILY.  IQI 

the  spot  where  the  sharpest  possible  scru- 
tiny is  always  directed  to  the  walk  of  the 
professed  follower  of  Christ.  The  eyes  of 
children  are  watchful  organs,  and  keen  as 
they  are  watchful,  and  their  minds  are 
prompt  to  form  judgments  upon  what  they 
see.  Instinctively  they  put  confidence  in  a 
parent,  and  love  to  bestow  that  confidence 
without  limit.  It  is  a  sad  discovery  which 
is  made  when  it  is  found  that  that  confi- 
dence has  been  misplaced — when  a  child  is 
forced  to  conclude,  through  the  faults  or 
the  inconsistencies  observed  in  a  parent, 
that  his  religion  is  not  what  it  professes 
to  be.  And  it  is  as  disastrous  as  it  is  sad, 
for  it  shakes  the  confidence  of  the  child  in 
truth  itself.  What  can  be  confided  in  when 
a  parent  has  proved  false  ?  Perhaps,  if 
the  matter  were  closely  sifted,  it  would  be 
found  that  the  actual  deviations  from  recti- 
tude which  the  younger  members  of  a 
family  see  in  the  conduct  of  their  seniors 
constitute  the  reason  why  they  are  so 
frequently  unaffected  by  the  instructions 
they  receive  from  their  lips. 


192  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 


The  fact  is  first  to  be  noted  that  there 
are  peculiar  difficulties  In  the  way  of  main- 
taining a  perfectly  reHgious  character  in 
the  family. 

The  importunate  demands  and  the  ab- 
sorbing nature  of  household  cares  are 
familiar  to  every  woman  who  has  a  home 
to  superintend.  These  cares  are  apt  to 
drive  from  the  mind  the  thought  of  God, 
and  to  clog  the  channels  through  which 
spiritual  motives  and  influences  reach  the 
heart.  Unless  a  perpetual  watch  is  kept 
up,  they  will  leave  the  soul  as  blighted  in 
its  religious  sensibilities  and  activities  as  is 
the  field  over  which  a  frosty  wind  has  been 
sweeping  in  its  verdure  and  fruit.  The  in- 
dependence which  a  man  feels  in  the  en- 
closure of  his  home  may  be  fraught  with 
danger.  He  is  there  responsible  to  no  ex- 
ternal authority.  The  eye  of  the  public  is 
absent,  the  judgments  of  the  public  are 
withdrawn.  The  necessity  for  self-control 
and  for  self-restraint  is  largely  removed. 

In  this  unhampered  freedom  in  which  a 


RELIGION  IX    THE    EAMJL  Y.  1 93 

man  indulges  when  he  closes  his  door  upon 
the  world  without,  he  may  be  betrayed  into 
intemperate  practices  even  through  his  de- 
sire for  ease  and  relaxation.  The  restive- 
ness  which  leads  him  to  shake  off  the  yoke 
of  care  which  has  huncr  about  his  neck  while 

o 

engaged  in  the  business  of  the  day  may  go 
so  far  as  to  discard  the  yoke  of  duty  which 
religion  imposes  upon  him  as  the  head  of  a 
family.  The  pent-up  excitements  engen- 
dered by  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men 
may  at  home  relieve  themselves  in  sour- 
ness of  temper  or  in  expressions  of  pet- 
ulance. The  chafed  spirit  may  forget  to 
wear  before  the  gaze  of  children  and  domes- 
tics "  the  gentleness  of  Christ."  The  en- 
dearments with  which  an  expectant  house- 
hold may  be  ready  to  greet  the  returning 
parent  may  be  repelled  as  annoyances,  and 
rebukes  may  chill  the  hearts  which  were 
lonorino-  for  a  caress.  Weariness  or  indis- 
position  may  plead  for  the  omission  of 
family  prayer  and  the  other  offices  of  do- 
mestic piety,  until  gradually  every  trace  of 
the  religious  element  may  disappear  from 
the  family-life. 

V.', 


194  FOI.T.OIVIXG    CHRIST. 

The  old  law  which  required  the  Israelite 
to  write  the  precepts  of  the  Lord  upon 
the  posts  of  his  house  and  upon  his  gates 
(Deut.  vi.  9)  that  he  might  be  reminded  of 
them  as  often  as  he  crossed  the  threshold 
of  his  home  is  one  which  needs  virtually  to 
be  observed  by  every  Christian,  for  Satan 
may  still  insinuate  himself  into  the  domes- 
tic Eden  and  beguile  both  man  and  woman 
into  foro^etfulness  of  the  commands  of  God. 

11. 

Household  religion  does  not  depend  en- 
tirely upon  positive  methods  and  regula- 
tions. There  is  a  form  of  it  which  lies 
back  of  these.  It  is  a  pervading  spirit 
which  gives  a  religious  air  or  tone  to  the 
family-life.  It  is  the  result  of  a  quiet — 
almost  an  unconscious — respect  for  the  law 
of  God  as  the  principle  which  shapes  in  all 
its  particulars  the  economy  or  hojisc-law  of 
the  family. 

When  it  is  said  (Gen.  xviii.  19)  of  Abra- 
ham's household  that  they  kept  the  "way 
of  the  Lord,"  it  is  meant  that  the  whole 
manner  of  their  domestic  life  evinced  the 


RELICION  IN   riJE    FAMILY.  1 95 

fact  that  they  were  controlled  by  a  regard 
for  his  will.  The  same  thing  ought  still  to 
be  aimed  at.  Families  are  as  capable  of 
bearing  and  of  exhibitincr  character  as  are 
individuals.  They  are  corporate  units  and 
may  be  distinguished  by  specific  marks. 
They  have  their  different  habits,  pursuits, 
tastes  and  enjoyments.  They  are  drawn 
together  or  repelled  from  one  another  by 
these  predominating  qualities.  There  are 
homes  w^iich  the  visitor  at  once  feels  to  be 
religious  homes,  and  in  regard  to  which  he 
says  without  any  hesitation,  '*The  Lord  is 
in  this  place."  There  are  other  homes 
which  are  just  as  obviously  irreligious.  In 
a  moment  it  is  evident  to  the  observer  that 
God  is  in  no  way  acknowledged  in  the 
constitution  or  the  system  of  living  of  the 
family. 

The  character  of  a  household  will,  of 
course,  mainly  depend  upon  those  who  are 
at  the  head  of  it  and  who  enact  and  admin- 
ister its  laws,  but  to  some  extent  it  is  due 
to  the  agency  of  each  member  of  it.  Now, 
clearly,  the  follower  of  Christ  will  be  gross- 
ly forgetful  of  his  duty  everywhere  to  rep- 


196  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

resent  the  properties  of  the  "  salt "  or  the 
"  leaven  "  if  he  does  not  aim  to  give  to  the 
family  to  which  he  belongs  a  decidedly  re- 
ligious character.  This  result  cannot  be 
reached  by  a  mere  display  of  the  symbols 
of  religion,  such  as  the  presence  of  the 
Bible  on  a  centre-table  or  the  suspending 
of  Scripture  mottoes  upon  the  walls,  but 
by  the  effort  of  each  member  of  the  family 
himself  to  live  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tian motive  and  principle,  and  to  incite  and 
encourage  all  the  other  members  to  do  the 
same.  It  is  the  brilliancy  of  the  separate 
stars  composing  it  which  gives  its  brilliancy 
to  a  constellation.  The  Holy  Spirit,  de- 
veloping those  virtues  of  the  heart  and 
those  graces  of  behavior  and  of  manner 
of  which  he  is  the  Author,  in  the  person 
of  each  individual,  will  throw  the  combined 
lustre  of  these  heaven-kindled  lights  into 
the  character  and  the  life  of  the  whole  fam- 
ily, and  the  result  will  be  that  the  Christian 
home  will  stand  among  its  godless  neigh- 
bors an  illumined  object,  like  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  Israelites  in  the  midst  of  the 
darkened  abodes  of  the  Egyptians. 


RELIGION  IN   THE   FAMILY.  1 9/ 

III. 

It  is  too  plain  a  proposition  to  call  for 
argument  that  the  maintenance  of  a  relig- 
ious character  in  the  household  requh^es  the 
observance  of  family  worship. 

It  is  this  which  most  sensibly  enthrones 
God  in  a  home,  and  by  a  literal  expression 
of  them  gives  form  and  tenacity  to  its  re- 
ligious sentiments.  The  gathering  of  a 
family  together  for  the  purpose  of  wor- 
shiping God  is  the  most  impressive  act  in 
which  they  can  engage,  and  as  suggestive 
or  instructive  as  it  is  impressive.  The 
echoes  of  the  morning  prayer  or  the  Script- 
ure lesson  may  linger  in  the  mind  of  the 
hearer  all  through  the  day,  and  those  of  the 
evening's  devotions  may  stir  good  thoughts 
upon  the  pillow  or  bring  the  atmosphere 
of  heaven  around  the  soul  as  sleep  bears 
it  into  that  mysterious  state  which  is  the 
image  of  death.  The  family  is  such  a 
definite  organism,  its  life  is  such  a  joint- 
stock  of  interest  in  which  all  the  members 
are  concerned,  and  its  history  necessarily 
contains  so  much  of  the  experience  of  each 


198  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

separate  constituent,  that  it  would  seem  it 
must  have  some  method  or  vehicle  of  pro- 
claimins:  its  reliorious  faith  and  sentiment. 
Worship  ought  to  flow  through  it  as  nat- 
urally as  music  flows  through  the  pipes  of 
an  organ.  A  family  which  is  never  heard 
voicing  its  united  thanksgivings  to  God  or 
laying  its  wants  and  cares  before  his  mer- 
cy-seat is  an  anomaly  in  the  world. 

The  professor  of  religion  cannot  too  soon 
admit  to  his  mind  the  fact  that  God,  in  set- 
ting him  at  the  head  of  a  family,  has  set  him 
there  that  he  may  be  the  priest  of  the  house- 
hold. It  is  his  duty  to  see  that  God  is  wor- 
shiped in  his  home,  and  to  seek  to  train 
there,  as  in  a  nursery,  a  band  of  worshipers 
who  may  in  time  perpetuate  the  hallowed 
ordinance  in  other  homes.  The  penalty  of 
a  neglect  of  this  duty  will  undoubtedly  ap- 
pear in  the  absence  of  all  religious  tend- 
encies in  the  household.  It  is  worthy  of 
serious  thought  whether  the  drift  of  the 
youth  of  the  present  day  away  from  the 
Church — a  fact  which  is  so  much  deplored 
— may  not  be  owing  to  this  cause,  the 
omission    of   family    worship,    which   is    so 


RELIGION  IN   THE   EAMILY.  1 99 

largely  prevalent  in  the  homes  of  professed 
Christians. 

In  the  case  of  most  persons  the  difficulty 
of  conducting  this  exercise  is  confessedly 
great — at  least,  in  the  first  attempt.  But 
the  difficulty  has  been  overcome  in  innu- 
merable instances,  and  it  should  not  be  re- 
garded is  insurmountable  in  any.  It  will 
be  materially  diminished  by  an  honest  re- 
flection upon  the  importance  of  the  end  to 
be  attained,  and  by  a  simple  trust  in  the 
aid  promised  by  God  to  those  who  sacrifice 
their  own  will  to  his,  and  it  will  gradually 
vanish  before  repeated  experiment.  Fam- 
ily prayer,  perfectly  to  fill  its  place,  should 
be  the  free  utterance  of  the  person  officiating 
in  view  of  the  varying  phases  of  the  family 
history ;  and  where  these  are  habitually 
reported  to  God — as  they  ought  to  be — by 
the  Christian  parent  in  the  secrecy  of  the 
closet,  it  probably  will  not  be  hard  to  refer 
to  them  aorain  in  the  devotions  of  the  do- 
mestic  circle.  There  may  possibly  be  cases 
in  which  the  ability  to  offer  a  prayer  in 
public  can  never  be  acquired.  In  such 
cases,   I   would  say,  by  all   means   let   the 


200  FOLLOWING    CHRISl'. 

]:)erson  avail  himself  of  the  aid  of  such 
forms  of  prayer  as  may  easily  be  obtained. 
These  may  to  an  imperfect  extent  give  a 
voice  to  the  family  heart,  and  the  use  of 
their  utterances  is  a  thousand-fold  better 
than  a  silent  family  altar. 

IV. 

Family  religion  must  include,  in  some 
form,  the  instruction  of  the  young  in  relig- 
I02is  matters. 

A  pious  parent,  who  feels  that  in  being 
pious  he  is  simply  being  what  he  ought  to 
be,  will  feel,  on  the  same  grounds,  that  his 
children  ought  to  be  pious.  And  what  he 
knows  they  ought  to  be  he  will  try  to  make 
them.  And  the  process  by  which  a  child 
is  to  be  made  anything  is  education  or 
training.  Certainly,  he  will  not  become  a 
religious  person  unless  he  is  taught  what 
religion  is  and  why  he  should  be  religious 
and  how  he  is  to  be  relie'ious.  To  make 
no  effort  whatever  in  this  direction  is  evi- 
dently to  renounce  all  the  obligations  of 
parental  duty.  The  heart  would  seem  to 
be  destitute  of  all   natural  as  well  as  of  all 


RELIGION  IN   THE   EAMILY.  20I 

religious  sensibility  that  could  remain  un- 
moved by  the  spectacle  of  a  child  in  its 
helplessness  appealing  to  a  parent  to  give 
it  the  clue  which  shall  safely  guide  it 
through  the  labyrinth  of  life  upon  which 
it  has  entered.  And  yet  many  parents 
excuse  themselves  from  the  attempt  or 
satisfy  themselves  with  delegating  the  task 
to  servile  hands. 

This  delinquency  becomes  the  more  fla- 
grant when  it  occurs  in  the  case  of  children 
dedicated,  as  they  generally  are  by  parents 
professing  to  be  Christians,  to  God  in  bap- 
tism. This  holy  rite  is  a  mockery  if  it  does 
not  amount  to  a  solemn  pledge  made  to 
God  by  the  parents  to  give  to  their  children 
the  instruction  and  the  culture  needed  to 
make  them  religious.  No  parent  should 
dare  to  present  a  child  for  baptism  unless 
he  honestly  and  faithfully  means  to  do  this. 
It  is  superstition  to  seek  baptism^  for  a  child 
in  the  belief  that  the  mere  application  of 
water  and  the  recital  of  a  set  of  words  will 
magically  work  the  regeneration  of  its  soul, 
and  it  is  hypocrisy  to  profess  to  desire  mem- 
bership in  the  kingdom  of  God  for  a  child 


203  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

while  the  parent  has  no  other  purpose 
than  to  bring  it  up  for  the  world  or  for 
the  devil. 

The  plea  of  incompetency  is  here  again 
used  to  cover  the  neglect  of  parental  duty. 
But  surely  any  one  who  himself  knows  what 
it  is  to  be  a  Christian  can  teach  a  child  in 
many  ways,  indirect  as  well  as  direct,  what 
it  is  to  be  one,  or  can  in  many  particulars 
— and  these  perhaps  the  most  essential 
— make  him  understand  the  difference  be- 
tween a  man  who  is  a  Christian  and  one 
who  is  not.  There  are  capacities — I  might 
even  call  them  instincts — in  the  nature  of 
every  child  which  point  toward  religion, 
and  these  may  be  fostered  and  cultivated. 
The  nurture  which  is  needed  for  this  pur- 
pose is  of  the  simplest  sort.  One  does  not 
require  to  be  an  adept  in  theology  or  a 
master  in  casuistry  to  call  forth  and  to  train 
such  sentiments  as  conscientiousness,  de- 
pendence upon  God,  reverence  for  his  word 
and  ordinances,  complacency  in  virtue  and 
aversion  to  vice,  and  delight  in  the  evi- 
dences of  divine  loveliness  contained  in  the 
character  and    the   life  of  Christ.      All  of 


RELIGION  IN    THE   FAMILY.  203 

these  are  to  be  found  waiting  for  develop- 
ment in  a  youthful  mind. 

Every  parent  professing  to  be  a  follower 
of  Christ  oucrht  to  be  able  to  do  these  two 
things  :  first,  so  firmly  to  attach  to  himself 
the  respect,  the  confidence  and  the  affec- 
tion of  a  child  that  nothing  shall  ever  en- 
tirely obliterate  them  ;  and  second,  to  fasten 
upon  the  child's  mind  the  conviction  that 
those  qualities  in  the  parent  which  have 
excited  these  feelings  are  due  to  his  re- 
ligion. When  these  things  have  been 
done,  a  volume  of  instruction  will  have 
been  imparted  which  may  be  more  potent 
than  any  formal  homilies  or  any  catecheti- 
cal lessons.  A  mother  beloved,  and  always 
appearing  lovely  through  the  charm  which 
her  piety  gives  her,  is  a  living  evangel 
perpetually  preaching  to  the  heart  and  the 
conscience  of  a  child,  and  has  been  made 
in  many  instances  the  wisdom  and  the 
power  of  God  unto  the  salvation  of  her 
child. 

In  teaching  the  young,  the  Bible  is,  of 
course,  the  source  from  which  is  to  be 
drawn  the  knowledge  to  be  communicated, 


204  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

and  Instruction  is  the  imparting  of  this 
knowledge.  The  manner  in  which  it  is  to 
be  conveyed  must  be  very  much  determined 
by  the  wise  discretion  of  the  parent.  Aids 
in  the  formal  part  of  this  work  are  to  be 
found  in  the  elementary  expositions  of 
Scripture  furnished  by  all  the  churches. 
There  is,  however,  an  informal  way  of  giv- 
ing instruction  in  religion  which  should 
never  be  divorced  from  the  formal,  and 
which  may  be  even  more  effective  than 
that.  It  consists  more  in  trahiino-  than  in 
teaching — in  showing  a  child  how  he  is  to 
apply  the  principles  and  actually  to  put  in 
practice  the  precepts  of  the  Bible.  The 
same  arts  which  are  employed  in  teaching 
an  infant  to  walk,  and  to  walk  in  safe  places, 
should  be  employed  in  teaching  a  young 
soul  to  take  its  steps  and  to  choose  its 
paths  in  the  service  of  God. 

V. 

Religion  in  the  family  may  be  expected, 
on  many  accounts,  to  give  a  prominent 
place  to  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 

The  Sabbath  and  the  family  are  kindred 


RELIGION  IN    THE   FAMILY.  20$ 

institutions,  derived  from  the  same  source 
— the  ordination  of  God — and  aimincr  at  the 
same  end,  the  rescuingf  of  the  soul  from  the 
wearying  and  the  hardening  influences  of 
secular  life.  The  answer  to  the  Saviour's 
prayer  in  behalf  of  his  exposed  disciples, 
"  I  pray  not  that  thou  shouldest  take  them 
out  of  the  world,  but  that  thou  shouldest 
keep  them  from  the  evil"  (John  xvii.  15), 
very  largely  comes  through  the  channels 
of  the  home  and  the  Sabbath.  Through 
God's  blessing  the  home  may  become  the 
sanctuary  within  which  the  "  evil "  which 
everywhere  tracks  the  steps  of  the  follower 
of  Christ  while  out  in  the  world  cannot  in- 
trude ;  and,  in  order  to  this,  it  needs  to  be 
shielded  and  barred  by  the  hallowing  influ- 
ences of  a  weekly  Sabbath  against  the 
assaults  of  "  evil." 

The  benefits  conferred  upon  a  household 
by  the  day  of  sacred  rest  are  so  many  and 
so  great  that  the  family  which  does  not  in- 
clude in  its  house-law  the  fourth  command- 
ment, and  which  does  not  make  provision 
for  the  keeping  of  it,  would  proclaim  its 
ingratitude  as  loudly  as  it  proclaims  its  ir- 


2o6  FOLLOW/XC    CHA'IST. 

reverence ;  and  the  retribution  for  such  a 
failure  will  probably  appear  in  the  loss  of 
many  of  those  special  blessings,  temporal 
as  well  as  spiritual,  which  the  household 
institution  was  intended  to  bestow. 

The  effort  to  make  a  family  a  Sabbath- 
keeping  one  will  require  much  circumspec- 
tion and  study  on  the  part  of  the  heads  of 
the  household.  Errors  may  be  committed 
either  on  the  side  of  over-strictness  or  on 
that  of  over-laxness.  To  strike  the  mean 
between  the  two — and  in  this  case  it  is  a 
"golden"  one — is  not  easy.  The  first 
requisite  is  to  familiarize  a  family  with  the 
idea  that  Sabbath-keeping  is  a  law  of  the 
household.  It  should  be  made  to  take  its 
place  in  the  order  of  the  family-life  as  nat- 
urally as  the  occupations  of  the  weekdays 
take  theirs. 

The  methods  may  vary  more  or  less  in 
their  details  in  different  households,  but  in 
all  cases  they  must  aim  at  distinguishing  the 
Sabbath  from  other  days,  and  distinguishing 
it  by  giving  it  a  religious  character.  House- 
hold regulations  should  show  this  difference, 
and  show  it  in  a  negative  way,  perhaps,  as 


RELIC mx  I.y    THE    FAMILY.  20/ 

much  as  in  a  positive  one — that  is,  as  far  as 
practicable,  they  should  exclude  from  the 
Sabbath  the  employments  of  the  weekday 
and  the  things  which  by  association  excite 
thought  about  these  employments.  The 
mind  should  be  disencumbered  of  the  bur- 
den of  worldly  care  which  the  mere  sight 
of  the  symbols  of  it  lays  upon  it.  On  this 
account,  if  no  other,  the  secular  newspaper 
should  be  eschewed.  It  is  in  this  way  that 
the  Sabbath  most  effectively  verifies  its 
name  as  a  day  of  rest,  for  rest  largely  con- 
sists in  the  emancipation  of  the  mind  from 
a  sense  of  the  obligation  to  toil.  Even  the 
badges  of  servitude  need  to  be  withdrawn 
in  order  that  it  may  feel  truly  free. 

There  is  far  more  rest  to  be  derived  from 
laying  this  injunction — to  use  a  legal  phrase 
— upon  the  encroaching  anxieties  of  worldly 
life  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  stupefaction 
of  literal  sleep.  Rest,  however,  is  not  to 
be  confounded  with  inaction.  It  consists, 
rather,  in  a  change  of  action.  The  Sab- 
bath, therefore,  needs  its  occupations,  and 
the  difficulty  in  keeping  it  is  to  find  these 
occupations  and   to   give  them  a  pleasant 


208  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

aspect.  Among  them,  of  course,  there 
should  be  a  due  attention  to  the  pubhc 
worship  of  God.  Where  this  cannot  be 
rendered,  as  is  sometimes  the  case  in  rural 
districts,  there  should  be  substituted  family 
reading  of  the  Scriptures,  with  singing  and 
prayer.  Families  in  which  sacred  music 
is  cultivated  will  find  themselves  in  posses- 
sion of  a  decided  advantage  in  the  matter 
ot  Sabbath-keeping.  Mere  neighborly  vis- 
iting and  social  festivity,  simply  because 
they  are  associated  with  the  ordinary 
worldly  life,  ought  to  be  suspended  on 
the  Sabbath,  but  visiting  for  purposes  of 
mercy  is  a  legitimate  employment,  and 
perhaps  should  receive  more  attention 
than  it  does.  Weary  hours  might  profit- 
ably be  filled  up  in   this  way. 

The  quiet  of  the  day  of  rest  should  evi- 
dently be  improved  by  persons  who  have 
little  leisure  for  religfious  readino-  durinsf 
the  week.  And  in  the  sweet  reunion  of 
the  day  large  scope  may  be  given  to  the 
interchange  of  home  endearments.  The 
domestic  affections  are  sacred  things,  and 
the  expression  of  them  is  not  inconsistent 


RELIGIOM  IN    THE    FA  MI  I.  Y.  209 

with  the  hallowing  of  the  Sabbath.  The 
caress  of  a  parent  may  give  the  best  pos- 
sible emphasis  to  the  admonitions  he  has 
been  addressing  to  a  child.  The  day  that 
most  copiously  sheds  its  dews  upon  the 
household  heart  and  wakens  into  fresh 
vigor  the  spirit  of  family  love  is  giving 
thereby  not  the  least  proof  that  it  is  itself 
the  eift  of  Heaven  and  is  fulfilling  the  end 
for  which  it  was  created.  A  father  absent 
from  his  little  flock — as  many  fathers  are — 
during  the  week  should  feel  that  it  is  his 
privilege  on  the  Sabbath  to  enjoy  the  bless- 
ing which  God  meant  to  bestow  upon  him 
in  the  companionship  of  that  little  flock. 
He  should  be  glad  himself,  and  should 
make  all  about  him  glad.  There  need  be 
no  restriction  to  the  cheerfulness  of  the 
day  except  that  which  naturally  arises  from 
the  reflection  that  the  Sabbath  is  relioious 

o 

in  its  character,  and  must  so  recognize  God 
as  its  Proprietor  that  even  its  gladness 
shall  be  sanctified  by  the  spirit  of  wor- 
ship." 

14 


2IO  FOLLOWING    CL/AWST. 

VI. 

All  methods  for  maintaining  or  promoting 
piety  in  a  family  will  fail,  however,  if  they 
are  not  sustained  by  a  consistent,  syniniet- 
rical  and  cleajdy  -marked  piety  in  the  heads 
of  it. 

From  them  the  younger  and  inferior 
members  will  be  continually  getting  their 
impression  of  the  religion  of  Christ ;  and 
the  follower  of  Christ  needs  to  be  a  fol- 
lower in  whom  there  is  no  guile,  and  in 
regard  to  whose  sincerity  there  can  be  no 
question  within  the  precincts  of  a  home. 
In  the  intimate  associations  of  the  house- 
hold circle  people  come  thoroughly  to  un- 
derstand and  to  appreciate  one  another. 
Character  cannot  succeed  in  wearing  a 
mask  there.  A  parent  who  does  not  prac- 
tice religion  will  frustrate  the  purpose  of 
all  his  teachings.  It  is  always  to  be  borne 
in  mind  that  children  are  not — generally,  at 
least — disposed  to  be  religious.  The  natu- 
ral or  "  carnal  mind  "  in  them  as  in  others 
is  "  enmity  against  God."  It  soon  shows  a 
repugnance  to  his  law.     The  regimen  it  im- 


KEI.IGIOX  IN   THE   FAMILY.  211 

poses  upon  them  puts  an  annoying  check 
upon  the  wild  play  of  their  desires  and 
passions,  and  is  a  yoke  which  they  are  only 
too  ready  to  elude  where  an  occasion  or  a 
pretext  is  offered  them.  If  any  ground  to 
distrust  the  claim  of  religion  to  be  the  rule 
and  the  exponent  of  goodness  and  the  power 
which  makes  men  good  is  presented  to  them 
in  the  conduct  of  those  w^ho  profess  to  be 
its  representatives,  this  aversion  to  it  will 
gather  strength  as  the  flame  does  when 
fuel  is  added  to  it.  In  this  matter  the  Sa- 
viour's saying  (Matt.  xii.  30)  is  emphatically 
true :  "  He  that  is  not  with  me  is  against 
me,  and  he  that  gathereth  not  with  me 
scattereth  abroad." 

Let  the  Christian  parent  never  forget 
that  the  ''  demonstration  "  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  will  use  in  converting  his  children 
lies,  to  a  ereat  extent,  in  that  which  he  is 
making  of  the  purity  and  the  excellence  of 
godliness.  They  need  to  be  won  from  dis- 
like to  the  service  of  God  by  the  sweet 
compulsion  which  forces  them  to  love  the 
parent  or  the  kinsman  whom  religion  has 
made  worthy  of  their  love.     Everything  in 


212  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

that  parent  or  that  kinsman  which  reveals 
a  defect  or  a  blemish  in  his  character  will 
be  a  weight  in  the  scale  against  religion. 
It  is  the  poor  specimen  of  religion  which 
professedly  Christian  men  are  exhibiting 
in  their  homes,  probably,  which  more  than 
anything  else  contributes  to  the  readiness 
with  which  young  people  are  taking  In  the 
current  unbelief  of  the  age  or  adopting  the 
sophisms  which  beguile  them  Into  a  worldly 
or  a  sensual  life.  The  man  who  carries 
with  him  in  his  memory  the  Image  of  a 
father  or  a  mother  In  which  every  cherished 
feature  Is  Irradiated  with  the  lustre  of  a 
genuine  piety  cannot  easily  become  an  in- 
fidel or  sink  so  low  in  baseness  as  to  call 
that  a  delusion  or  a  falsehood  which  has 
enshrined  such  an  Image  In  his  memory. 


CHAPTER    X. 

RELIGION  ALWAYS  AND   E  VER  Y  WHERE. 

THE  phrase  "  following  Christ "  obvi- 
ously implies  that  a  religious  life  is  to 
be  characterized  by  uniformity  and  stability. 
In  the  nature  of  it.  it  ought  to  be  a  contin- 
uous and  an  equable  process.  It  is  motion 
produced  by  the  ceaseless  attraction  of  a 
perpetually  present  object,  not  the  fitful  stir 
caused  by  occasional  and  irregular  impulses. 
It  is  something  by  which  the  Christian  is 
always  and  everywhere  to  be  distinguished. 
In  looking  at  it  in  various  departments  and 
under  different  relations,  as  we  have  been 
doing  in  the  preceding  pages,  we  have  still 
considered  it  as  one  unbroken  thread  weav- 
ing itself  into  the  warp  of  circumstance  and 
maintaining  its  unity  amidst  all  the  facts 
with  which  it  becomes  intertwined.  This 
comprehensive  idea,  containing,  as  it  does, 

213 


214  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

a  summary  of  all  the  details  of  religious 
living,  may  suggest  a  few  further  reflections 
as  a  conclusion  to  this  little  treatise. 

I. 

It  leads  us,  first,  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  presence  of  the  Christian  spirit  in  a 
man  is  demonstrated  by  the  pemitanence  of 
Ms  convictions,  sentiments  and piHnciples  rather 
than  by  what  are  called  "  frames  of  mind  " 
or  "  excited  emotions." 

The  awakening  of  any  new  affection  in 
the  soul  if  it  be  a  wholesome  one,  or  the 
apprehending  of  any  new  truth  by  it  if  it 
be  a  valuable  one,  will  naturally  be  at- 
tended by  a  certain  fiush  or  exhilaration 
of  feeling.  This  is  to  be  expected  in  re- 
ligion as  well  as  in  other  phases  of  experi- 
ence. No  man  can  be  conscious  of  the 
springing  up  in  his  heart  of  such  an  affec- 
tion as  love  to  God,  or  can  seize  with  an 
appropriating  faith  such  a  truth  as  that 
"  there  is  therefore,  now,  no  condemnation 
to  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus  "  (Rom. 
viii.  i),  without  being  by  it  transported  into 
a  distinct  element  of  pleasure.     A  Chris- 


RELIGION  AL  WA  YS  AND  E  VEK  YWHERE.  2 1 5 

tian,  passing — as  he  sometimes  does  very 
sensibly — from  darkness  into  light,  will 
give  evidence  of  the  change  as  much  by 
his  joyful  sensations  as  by  his  clear  per- 
ceptions. Sometimes  a  new  song  is  liter- 
ally put  into  his  mouth,  and  his  rapture  may 
be  unspeakable. 

Now,  these  first  symptoms  of  a  religious 
life  are  not  to  be  taken  as  the  abidino-  inci- 
dents  of  it.  In  ceasing-  to  be  new  the  af- 
fections  and  the  beliefs  which  are  coincident 
with  the  becrinninp-  of  such  a  life  cease  to 
excite  the  subject  with  their  original  force 
and  are  entertained  without  any  percep- 
tible mental  agitation.  They  show  their 
presence  by  their  fixedness  rather  than  by 
their  vehemence.  The  intense  blaze  into 
which  a  fire  is  fanned  at  the  kindlinor  of 
it  dies  down,  but  the  fire  fastened  upon  the 
ignited  fuel  burns  on  and  emits  its  heat  all 
the  day.  It  is  so  in  religion.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  make  elevated  frames  of  feelinor  the 
main  proof  of  spiritual  life.  This  is  to  put 
a  concomitant  of  relifjion  for  relimon  itself. 
There  are  times  and  places  where  the  flame 
may  be  expected  to  blaze  out,  but  the  fire 


2l6  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

is  the  substantial  thing  which  always  and 
everywhere  burns  on  with  a  steady  glow. 
The  Christian  is  known,  and  may  know 
himself,  better  by  those  demonstrations 
which  are  uniform  and  regular  than  by 
those  which  are  occasional  and  extreme. 
That  "abidinor"  in  Christ  which  the  Sa- 
viour  makes  the  test  of  the  living  disciple 
(John  XV.  4)  must  consist  in  such  exercises 
as  are  suitable  to  all  occasions  and  all  con- 
ditions. The  "just"  man,  like  his  type  the 
"shining  light"  (Prov.  iv.  18),  should  at  any 
hour  of  the  day  be  found  in  his  orbit,  fol- 
lowing with  an  unwavering  step  the  path 
appointed  for  him  by  his  great  Lawgiver, 
Christ. 

II. 

The  obligation  to  be  religious  always  and 
everywhere  implies  that  a  Christian  should 
habitually  be  found  in  a  state  of  preparation 
for  all  religious  duties,  and  for  any  partic- 
ular religious  duty  which  may  suddenly 
arise. 

The  orenuine  artisan  carries  his  wit  and 
his  skill  with  him,  and  is  ready  to  respond 
to  any  call    that   may   be    made   upon   him 


RELIGION  AL  WA  YS  AND  E  VEK  V WHERE.  2 1 7 

without  having  to  wait  to  sharpen  his  in- 
struments and  to  quicken  his  faculties.  So 
''  the  man  of  God  "  needs  to  be  '*  thorough- 
ly furnished  unto  all  good  works"  (2  Tim. 
iii.  17).  His  soul  should  be  always  charged 
with  the  divine  life,  and  not  be  required, 
like  an  exhausted  battery,  from  time  to 
time  to  be  replenished  with  spiritual  force. 
The  follower  of  Christ  who  has  to  be  waked 
up  or  recalled  from  some  truant  position 
every  time  his  Master  summons  him  to  a 
service  is  certainly  indulging  himself  in 
criminal  drowsiness  or  presumption.  The 
religious  power  or  inspiration  in  the  healthy 
Christian  is  something  which  is  always  as 
literally  on  hand  and  ready  for  use  as  is 
the  natural  power  which  leads  to  locomo- 
tion or  the  natural  inspiration  which  prompts 
to  oratitude  or  to  indiornation.  Men  do  not 
have  to  prepare  to  walk,  nor  deliberately 
to  kindle  an  emotion  before  they  can  thank 
a  benefactor  or  rebuke  a  wronor-doer. 

A  consistent  and  continuous  following  of 
Christ  will  keep  the  professor  of  religion 
always  in  a  state  of  preparation  for  any 
duty  which  his  religion   imposes  upon  him. 


2l8  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

Temptation  will  never  find  him  off  his 
guard.  An  appeal  to  a  religious  motive 
will  receive  an  instantaneous  response. 
The  call  of  Christ,  '*  Go  work  to-day  in 
my  vineyard,"  at  whatever  moment  it  may 
come,  will  meet  with  the  prompt  and  honest 
reply,  ''  I  go,  sir."  The  wise  virgins  were 
provided  with  oil  in  their  vessels  and  could 
keep  their  lamps  always  burning.  There 
could  be  no  jar  upon  their  nerves,  and 
there  need  be  no  flutter  of .  mind  or  sinkino- 
of  heart  when  the  cry,  "  Behold,  the  bride- 
groom cometh !"  smote  upon  their  ears  at 
the  midnig'ht  hour. 

The  dependence  upon  special  prepara- 
tion as  each  step  in  the  religious  life  is  to 
be  taken  is  sio-nificant  of  a  lame  and  an 
uncomfortable  walk.  It  assumes  that  relia- 
ion  is  something  extraordinary — something 
apart  from  common  life  ;  so  that  whenever 
an  exhibition  of  it  is  required,  there  must 
be  a  shifting  of  the  soul  from  one  plane  to 
another  or  a  putting  on  of  a  new  character 
for  the  occasion.  Why  should  the  man  who 
is  accustomed  to  pray  for  himself,  and  who 
knows  how  to  tell  his  own  wants  to  God, 


RELIGION  AL  WA  YS  AND  E  VER  YVVHERE.  2  I9 

feel  embarrassment,  and  perhaps  give  a 
refusal,  when  asked  to  pray  for  another  ? 
And  why  should  so  many  professed  Chris- 
tians, when  unexpectedly  finding  themselves 
present  where  the  Lord's  Supper  is  to  be 
administered,  decline  to  participate  in  it  on 
the  ground  that  they  have  had  no  opportu- 
nity for  preparation  ?  Does  not  such  scru- 
pulousness, while  it  seems  to  express  rever- 
ence for  the  holy  ordinance,  just  as  plainly 
confess  that  in  their  ordinary  state  they  are 
lacking  in  the  faith  and  the  love  which  be- 
lievers ought  always  and  everywhere  to 
cherish  toward  their  divine  Redeemer? 

A  healthy  condition  of  soul  ought  to 
have  in  it  a  sufficiency  of  warmth  to  make 
it  able  and  ready  at  all  times,  without  any 
special  heating,  to  answer  any  demand 
for  an  expression  of  affection  or  devo- 
tion which  Christ  might  present.  It  would 
carry  the  believer  through  all  the  extraor- 
dinary emergencies  into  which  duty  might 
call  him  as  naturally  as  the  waters  of  a 
full  stream  fill  all  the  depressions  and  fit 
into  all  the  windings  of  the  channel  through 
which  it  tiows. 


220  FOLLOWING  CHRIST. 

III. 

Those  peculiar  privileges  of  the  Chris- 
tian life  which  are  represented  under  the 
terms  peace  and  comfort  and  joy  are  the 
product  of  that  kind  of  religion  which 
manifests  itself  always  and  everywhere. 

The  delightful  sensations  of  health  are 
not  produced  by  tonics  and  stimulants.  It 
is  the  combined  play  of  all  the  organs  of 
the  body  in  the  discharge  of  their  regular 
functions  which  produces  those  sensations. 
The  Christian  who  is  not  well  poised  and 
equable  in  his  religious  frames,  who  is  al- 
ways alternating  between  high  states  and 
low  states  of  feeling,  and  who  drops  back 
into  coldness  as  soon  as  the  blast  of  some 
special  excitement  is  turned  off  from  his 
emodons,  is  not  living  in  a  healthy  way.  He 
will  know  litde  of  true  comfort  in  religion, 
or  of  genuine  joy  in  believing,  or  of  that 
peace  of  God  which  is  able  to  keep  his 
heart  and  mind  through  Christ  Jesus.  A 
setded  faith  in  Christ,  a  fixed  determinadon 
to  follow  him,  a  hearty  and  entire  commit- 
ment of  the  soul  to  the  method  of  salvation 


RELIGION  AL  \VA  YS  AND  F.VKR  YWIIERE.  22  I 

and  the  order  of  living  proposed  in  the  gos- 
pel, so  that  a  suspicion  as  to  one's  being  in 
Christ  or  a  doubt  as  to  the  obligation  of 
serving  him  in  any  particular  would  seem 
as  anomalous  as  would  a  suspicion  as  to 
one's  existence  or  a  doubt  as  to  obeying 
the  laws  of  nature, — these  things,  which 
simply  mean  that  a  Christian  is  to  be  al- 
ways and  everywhere  a  Christian,  are 
fundamental  to  all  spiritual  enjoyment. 
O  professor  of  religion,  in  all  positions, 
steadfastly,  consistently,  inflexibly,  be  what 
you  profess  to  be,  and  religion  will  do  for 
you  all  it  promises  to  do. 

One  thing  only  is  needed  to  secure  the 
evenness  of  the  Christian's  walk,  and  that  is 
always  and  everywhere  to  keep  Christ  in  his 
eye  as  the  object  and  the  mark  of  his  high 
calling.  The  lieht  which  o-leams  from  the 
window  of  his  home,  kept  constantly  in 
view  by  the  traveler  groping  his  way  to- 
ward it  in  the  dark,  is  not  only  a  guide 
to  show  him  the  right  direction,  but  also 
an  inspiration  to  help  him  over  the  casual 
obstructions  of  his  path  and  a  monitor  to 
remind  him  of  the  illusions  of  the  night  by 


\ 
222  FOLLOIV/NG    CHRIST. 

means  of  which  he  might  be  beguiled  into 
a  wrong  road.  The  Christian  who  thus 
perpetually  has  Christ  before  him  does  not 
need  special  signals  to  assure  him  that  he 
is  in  the  way  of  heaven.  He  knows  it  just 
as  he  knows  that  he  is  always  and  every- 
where following  Christ. 

IV. 
Unhappily,  professors  of  religion  are  not 
always  consistent  mid  steadfast  in  their  fol- 
lowing of  Christ. 

Disciples  of  Jesus  may  be  found  sleep- 
ing   where    he    has    commanded    them    to 
watch.      Through   heedlessness    they   may 
have  allowed  themselves  to  be  ''  overtaken 
'  with  a  fault."     Like  Demas,  they  may  have 
,  forsaken  the  post  of  duty  through  love  of 
this  present  world.     They  may  even,  like 
I  Peter,   apostatize   so  far  as   to   deny   their 
Lord  and  to  associate  themselves  with  his 
enemies. 

Such  defections  on  the  part  of  Christians 
are,  of  course,  at  variance  with  all  their 
obligations.  They  are  criminal  enough  to 
make  them  fatal.     And  yet  such  breaches 


RKI.IGIOK  AL  ]VA  YS  AND  EVER  YIVII  ERE.  223 

do  not  necessarily  sever  the  connection  be- 
tween the  soul  and  Christ.  "  If  we  believe 
not,  yet  he  abideth  faithful"  (2  Tim.  ii.  13). 
Always  and  everywhere  present,  he  is  still 
within  the  sio^ht  and  the  reach  of  his  incon- 
stant  follower  however  far  he  may  have 
wandered.  The  constancy  and  the  un- 
changeableness  of  Jesus  give  hope  to  the 
backslider.  He  follows  the  straying  sheep 
which  has  temporarily  ceased  to  follow  him. 
This  fact  keeps  unbroken  the  connection 
between  them.  The  storm  has  bruised  the 
frail  reed  and  bent  it  downward  to  the  dust, 
but  the  sun  looks  upon  it  in  its  prostration 
and  with  the  touch  of  its  ray  again  lifts  it 
into  uprightness.  So  the  touch  of  the  Sa- 
viour's gracious  hand  is  on  the  believer, 
even  as  he  stands  on  the  verge  of  forsaking 
his  Master,  so  long  as  there  is  left  in  his 
heart  a  single  yearning  to  prompt  him  to 
recoil  from  the  final  step,  and,  looking  back 
to  Jesus,  to  cry,  "To  whom  shall  I  go  ? 
Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life."  Be- 
neath all  the  accumulated  oruilt  under  which 
the  faithless  Peter  lay  Jesus  could  see  the 
spark  of  love  still  glowing  in  his  breast,  and 


224  FOLLOWING    CHRIST, 

by  the  question,  "Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lov- 
est  thou  me  ?"  drew  from  him  the  response, 
*'  Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things,  thou  knovv- 
est  that  1  love  thee,"  by  which  his  erring 
spirit  swung  back  to  the  point  of  loyalty 
and  devotion. 

To  the  fallen  Christian  I  would  say,  Still, 
in  the  depth  of  your  sin  and  shame,  follow 
Christ.  Follow  those  craving  impulses 
which  are  drawing  you  to  him,  and  which 
forbid  you  to  think  that  he  has  abandoned 
you.  Follow  them  hopefully  as  the  calls 
by  which  he  is  inviting  you  to  return. 
They  will  bring  you  back  to  your  right 
position  in  regard  to  him.  They  may  even 
ensure  the  result  that  in  the  future  you 
shall  follow  him  with  a  more  abiding  stead- 
fastness of  purpose,  and  with  a  warmth  of 
love  quickened  by  the  remembrance  of 
your  past  errors. 

V. 

The  habitual  following  of  Christ  is  the 
condition  of  \k\2X  progress  in  religious  char- 
acter and  activity  which  every  professor  of 
religion  is  expected  to  make. 


RELIGION  AL  WA  YS  AND  EVKR  Y WHERE.  22$ 

To  follow  is  to  copy  or  to  imitate.  To 
follow  Christ  is  to  become  like  Christ.  This 
was  one  of  the  ends  contemplated  by  God 
in  the  scheme  of  redemption  :  "  For  whom 
he  did-  foreknow,  he  also  did  predestinate 
to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son, 
that  he  might  be  the  first-born  among  many 
brethren  "  (Rom.  viii.  29).  This  purpose 
will  undoubtedly  be  effected  in  the  case  of 
all  who,  with  Christ  as  the  ideal  of  the  man 
of  God  in  their  eye,  are  striving  to  approach 
nearer  and  nearer  to  him  in  spiritual  char- 
acter and  life.  Such  a  following  of  Jesus 
will  ensure  the  growth  of  the  Christian,  and 
will  probably  make  it  apparent  to  others, 
whether  he  sees  and  feels  it  or  not.  The 
infant  grows  to  the  stature  of  manhood 
without  beino-  able  to  detect  the  stages  of 
the  process    through  which  he  is  passing. 

The  conditions  of  growth  are  to  be  ob- 
served ;  the  manner  of  it  is  inscrutable. 
The  child  of  God  grows  into  the  perfected 
man  in  the  same  way.  As  Christ  is  formed 
in  him,  he  is  conformed  to  Christ ;  and  as 
he  resembles  Christ,  he  becomes  the  perfect 
man.  The  Holy  Spirit,  whose  office  it  is  to 
If) 


226  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

make  men  holy,  accomplishes  his  work  by 
bringing  them  more  and  more  into  assimi- 
lation to  Christ.  This  he  does  by  constant- 
ly keeping  them  under  the  influence  of  the 
direct  vision  of  Christ:  "We  all,  with  open 
face,  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of 
the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same  image, 
from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord"  (2  Cor.  iii.  18).  Always  and 
everywhere  following  Christ,  the  believer 
may  rest  in  the  assurance  that  God  is  fin- 
ishing his  work  in  his  soul  and  carrying 
him  along,  stage  after  stage,  in  that  process 
of  growth  by  which  he  is  to  be  presented 
faultless  and  complete  in  Christ  Jesus. 

VI. 

As  following  Christ  aims,  as  its  present 
result,  at  making  the  believer  like  Christ, 
so,  as  its  ultimate  result,  it  aims  at  bringing 
the  believer  into  personal  associatioji  with 
Christ. 

"  Father,  I  will  that  they  also  whom  thou 
hast  given  me,  be  with  me,  where  I  am," 
was  the  last  prayer  offered  by  Jesus  for  his 
disciples  on   earth   (John  xvii.  24).     To  be 


RELIGION  ALWA  YS  AND  EVER  Y  WHERE.  22/ 

present  with  the  Lord,  St.  Paul  tells  us,  is 
coincident  with  being  absent  from  the  body. 
The  following  of  Christ  ends  at  death  in 
an  introduction  to  the  presence  of  Christ. 
The  process  has  this  consummation  infalli- 
bly guaranteed  to  it,  and  the  believer,  in 
pursuing  it,  is  warranted  in  encouraging 
himself  with  the  expectation  of  this  glo- 
rious issue.  The  follower  of  Christ  ought, 
therefore,  in  consistency,  to  include  this 
residence  with  his  Lord  in  his  view  of  the 
future,  and  to  be  accustomed  to  solace  him- 
self amidst  the  labors  and  hardships  of  his 
earthly  walk  with  the  anticipation  of  heaven. 
This  hope  will  often  be  the  only  anchor 
which  can  keep  his  soul  steadfast  in  the 
storms  of  life.  This  is  not  saying  that  it 
is  required  of  the  Christian  that  he  should 
desire  to  die.  This  would  be  to  act  insane- 
ly. It  would  be  to  deny  his  nature  and 
really  to  long  to  extinguish  the  being  to 
which,  both  by  his  own  instincts  and  by  the 
will  of  his  Maker,  he  is  bidden  to  cling.  It 
is  not  the  spirit  of  the  mystic  buried,  in  a 
mistaken  pursuit  of  holiness,  in  a  monastic 
prison  or  desert,  and  dreaming  of  the  con- 


228  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

tents  of  a  paradise  which  in  his  imagination 
floats  above  him,  that  he  is  to  exhibit.  But, 
just  as  he  knows  that  this  Hfe  is  to  have  an 
end,  it  is  his  privilege  to  look  beyond  that 
end  and  to  construe  its  ending  into  the  in- 
ception of  a  higher  state  of  being,  and  to 
balance  against  the  ills  of  time  and  the 
painful  cost  of  fidelity  to  God  now  the  rest 
and  the  blessedness  which  are  pledged  to 
those  who  are  faithful  unto  the  end  in  fol- 
lowinor  Christ. 

It  is  the  man  who  most  truly  values  and 
uses  this  life  as  a  period  of  service  for 
Christ  who  is  most  truly  showing  his  fit- 
ness for  the  inheritance  and  the  crown 
which  Christ  will  award  to  his  loyal  follow- 
ers. But  there  may  be  an  aspiration  in 
the  Christian's  soul  reaching  heavenward 
all  the  while  that  the  natural  love  of  life 
is  asserting  itself  in  that  soul.  It  is  the 
aspiration  which  is  always  aiming  at  some- 
thing better  beyond  which  nerves  and  sus- 
tains the  spirit  in  the  whole  struggle  of  life. 
The  child  of  God  cannot  be  content  with 
present  attainments,  with  present  joys,  but 
must  be   conscious   of  an   aspiration  which 


RELIGION  AL  IV A  YS  AND  EVERYWHERE.  229 

looks  beyond  these  to  the  glory  which  is 
to  be  revealed.  He  is  saved  by  the  hope 
which  forecasts  the  being  with  Christ  as  well 
as  by  the  faith  which  relies  upon  Christ,  for 
the  former  is  the  product  of  the  latter. 

It  is  not  impatience  under  the  present 
allotments  of  Providence,  not  the  chafing 
of  the  soul  at  the  burdens  and  restraints 
with  which  it  is  environed,  not  the  pas- 
sionate beating  of  the  imprisoned  breast 
against  the  bars  of  its  cage,  which  denote 
the  temper  of  the  Christian,  but  it  is  the 
quiet  waiting  of  the  watcher  who  during 
the  night-hours  encourages  himself  with  the 
prospect  of  the  daybreak,  and  the  cheerful 
ongoing  of  the  pilgrim  pressing  through 
the  rigors  of  the  wilderness  to  the  Canaan 
beyond  the  flood. 

Follower  of  Christ,  familiarize  your  mind 
with  the  thought  that  soon  and  for  ever  you 
are  to  be  with  the  Lord.  Set  over  against 
all  the  attractions  of  this  life  the  attractions 
of  the  life  which  is  to  come.  Assert  your 
kinship  with  God  by  daring  to  say,  "  I  shall 
be  satisfied  when  I  awake  in  thy  likeness." 
This    anticipation,    this    aspiration,    always 


230  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

and  everywhere  kept  in  your  mind,  will 
loosen  your  attachment  to  this  world,  will 
chasten  your  ardor  in  the  pursuit  of  its 
joys,  will  lighten  the  pressure  of  its  mo- 
mentary sufferings,  and  will  enable  you, 
while  sharing  in  the  apostle's  blessed  as- 
surance, ''  Now  are  we  the  sons  of  God," 
to  share  also  in  his  exulting  hope  for  the 
future :  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall  be,  but  we  know  that  when  he  shall 
appear,  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall 
see  him  as  he  is." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

CONCLUSION. 

IT  may  be  well,  in  order  to  give  practical 
point  and  direction  to  the  didactic  dis- 
cussions contained  in  the  previous  chapters, 
to  sum  them  up  in  a  series  of  resolutions 
embodying — at  least,  partially — the  conclu- 
sions to  which  we  have  been  brought.  It 
is  the  resolution  to  perform  a  duty  which 
gives  effect  to  a  conviction  of  duty.  The 
man  who,  by  becoming  a  church-member, 
has  acknowledo^ed  his  obligation  to  lead  a 
religious  life,  and  by  that  solemn  act  has 
engaged  to  lead  such  a  life,  should  deliber- 
ately shape  his  convictions  into  resolutions, 
with  the  sincere  determination  to  carry 
them  into  practice.  To  aid  him  in  this 
work,  the  following  schedule  is  appended 
to  this  treatise. 

231 


232  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 


I  am  resolved,  as  a  member  of  that  dis- 
tinct body  of  Christ's  followers  to  which  I 
have  attached  myself,  constantly  to  bear  in 
mind  the  responsibilities  which  belong  to 
my  corporate  character,  and  in  all  circum- 
stances to  conduct  myself  as  a  personal 
representative  of  that  religion  which  the 
Church  of  Christ  was  appointed  to  illustrate 
to  the  world. 

II. 

I  am  resolved  to  make  the  Bible  my  life- 
long study,  and  to  seek,  through  the  bless- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  my  effort,  to 
grow  more  and  more  in  the  knowledge  of 
divine  truth,  that  I  may  live  more  and  more 
under  the  power  of  it. 

III.  . 
I  am  resolved  always  to  be  present  at 
the  house  of  God  at  the  stated  times  of 
public  worship,  unless  the  providence  of 
God  should  by  some  clear  obstruction  pre- 
vent my  attendance. 


CONCL  US  ION.  233 

IV. 
I  am  resolved  habitually  to  practice  se- 
cret prayer,  and  to  accustom  myself  to  think 
of  God  and  to  commune  with  him  during 
the  occupations  of  the  day. 

V. 

I  am  resolved  to  make  my  family  relig- 
ious as  well  as  myself,  and  to  this  end  to 
see  that  they  keep  holy  the  Sabbath-day, 
to  teach  them  to  become  worshipers  of 
God  by  leading  them  to  the  place  of  pub- 
lic worship  and  by  conducting  worship 
with  them  at  home,  and  to  inculcate  upon 
them  the  idea  that  the  law  of  the  house- 
hold is  the  law  of  the  Lord. 

VI. 
I  am  resolved  to  keep  Christ  in  my  view 
as  the  model  whom  I  am  to  follow,  and  not 
the  imperfect  types  of  piety  which  I  may  see 
in  the  professed  Christians  around  me. 

VII. 
I  am  resolved  to  watch  against  my  pecu- 
liar   infirmities    and    perseveringly    to    en- 


234  FOLLOWING    CHRIST. 

deavor    to    subdue   the    faults    to   which    I 

am  liable. 

VIII. 

I  am  resolved  to  be  scrupulously  honest 
and  truthful  in  all  my  dealings  with  my  fel- 
low-men. 

IX. 

I  am  resolved  to  cultivate  charitable  feel- 
ings toward  all  my  fellow-members  of  the 
church,  to  yield  respect  to  the  counsels  of 
its  officers,  and  to  show  such  consideration 
for  my  pastor  as  to  inform  him  of  any  occa- 
sion for  his  services  which  may  occur, 
through  sickness  or  otherwise,  in  my  fam- 
ily or  my  neighborhood. 

X. 

I  am  resolved,  while  acting  with  kindness 

and  courtesy  toward  all,   to   abstain   from 

such  associations,  amusements  and  places 

of  resort  as  might  be   detrimental   to  my 

own   spiritual   good   or  expose   me  to  the 

charofe  of  o-ivinof  countenance   to   the   en- 

emies  of  Christ. 

XI. 

I  am  resolved  to  do  my  part  according 

to  my  ability  in  bearing  the   burdens   and 


CONCLUSION,  235 

sustaining  the  benevolent   enterprises   of 
the  Church. 

XII. 

I  am  resolved  to  keep  myself  informed 
in  regard  to  the  work  of  the  Church  and 
the  progress  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the 
world,  and  for  this  purpose  to  provide 
myself  and  my  family,  where  this  is  pos- 
sible, with  some  religious  periodical. 

XIIL 

I  am  resolved,  in  humble  dependence 
upon  Christ's  help,  to  maintain  my  loyalty 
to  him  under  all  the  temptations  which 
may  come  to  me  through  the  allurements 
or  the  oppositions  of  the  world,  or  through 
the  successes  or  the  reverses  which  may 
be  included  in  my  lot  in  life. 

XIV. 

I  am  resolved  to  place  my  devotion  to 
my  worldly  business  under  such  restric- 
tions that  it  shall  never  interfere  with  the 
duties  which  I  owe  to  God  as  a  Christian 
and  as  a  church-member. 


236  FOLLOWING   CHRIST. 

XV. 

I  am  resolved  to  remember  that  as  a 
child  of  God  I  am  also  his  heir,  destined 
to  inherit  a  heavenly  home  which  I  may 
at  any  moment  be  called  upon  to  enter, 
and  to  use  this  expectation  and  this  hope 
as  a  constant  means  of  checking  an  inor- 
dinate attachment  to  the  present  world 
and  of  keeping  myself  in  a  state  of  readi- 
ness for  my  departure  from  it,  endeavor- 
ing, in  imitation  of  the  apostle's  faith,  to 
say,  "To  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die 
is  gain  "  (Phil.  i.  21). 


THE    END. 


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